I saw Li Daji off before turning back to the residence she had prepared for us. Small comforts decorated the building and little decorations appeared every once in a while. The building itself wasn't all that was given to us, compared to those Outer Disciples who simply had buildings connected to one another as if space was a massive problem; it was an incredible increase in quality of life.
For starters our building actually had a courtyard in front, whereas the Outer Disciples opened their front door directly onto the sect roads. Hmm, actually I think they do have small back courtyards, but it's nothing in comparison to this. Even though I couldn't see inside their houses I could feel that those residences simply felt impoverished when directly seeing the difference between the two living locations.
I wandered within our residence a bit more just so I could get used to it. I entered immediately to a small area to drop off things or take off your shoes before entering a living room and sectioned off nearby was the kitchen and dining room. If I kept going straight I would reach a hall with two doors on the right leading to our separate bedrooms and the door opposite it was a small bathing area. The door to the very end was a utility room.
I walked around the little residence for a few moments before finally deciding to head out for my patrol. I left the courtyard and plainly picked the path that Li Daji didn't go on.
I didn't really have much of a sense of direction to head towards so I wandered the sect road while memorizing the path I had taken. As I walked I had a faint hope that I would be able to meet him, but considering how much land there was to cover I doubted that I would be able to see him so soon. I know for sure if I kept doing this I would run into him eventually, but I still wanted it to occur as soon as possible.
What would the chances be of meeting up on the very day we arrived?
I mindlessly walked around for hours, only briefly interrupted by the occasional person or two I would meet along the path. There were a couple who tried to court me, but they seemed to understand more clearly when I ignored them than that guy from before did.
Not all tried to do so though, occasionally some people would ask me other kinds of questions along the path and since it didn't involve love I tried my best to answer them accordingly.
Some asked me about random trivia, to which I could only answer some I knew about from my past life, and there was even a guy asking me about bamboo for some reason.
That was a time when a couple of girls came to me asking about my hair and eye color. To those questions I truly had no idea, but from the knowledge that Li Daji told me it seemed like she had been born with it since she's had it for such a long time so I could only assume as such.
Such colorful eyes weren't unheard of, I could just remember those demon's vivid cerulean eyes with hints of violet. As for my hair I remember a few of the women who were slaughtered with me had some rather unique hair colors as well so the chances are that hair like this certainly is not unnatural, but probably a little uncommon to see others with.
'I wonder, if I go and dig up that pit will I be able to see my own corpse there? Ugh, just thinking about it makes me feel weird. After such a long time I'd probably just be nothing but a skeleton. Is it possible that there's something of use there still? Perhaps in the future I'll go and check it out.
Hmm, now that I think about it, am I going to have to patrol every single day? That most certainly wouldn't be a very good use of our time since it's not even guaranteed that he would come down to look within a time frame. It could be completely random, couldn't it?'
A ray of orange light shined down diagonally onto me, though by this point it had almost completely become a horizontal line. How many hours had I been aimlessly walking around for the sun to begin setting? I had memorized a good amount of walkways, but even then with how huge this sect was, what were even the chances of bumping into him were he to even come out tonight? The odds were being stacked up higher and higher, but I guess I should have known this was how it was going to be.
The chances of running into people dramatically declined as the sun set and the moon rose. Instead of the bright sun in the sky, now there only remained a glowing moon. The moon's light illuminated my path and surroundings as I continued to venture forth.
As time went on I spotted a bench along the road, when I looked around I realized at the moment that I had happened to reach some sort of area which didn't have any houses around, instead replaced by nature. Trees sprung around and the grass near the path gently blew. Their motions followed the wind like an ocean's wave.
I sat down on the bench as I looked up into the sky and spotted tonight's moon which happened to be a full one. It was no wonder why the ground was so brightly illuminated that I didn't really even have to infuse my eyes with Qi to see.
As I was distracted reminiscing while watching the moon and sky full of stars, the distinct sound of footsteps was approaching from where I was heading, but even then I really care much about it. They approached with a lantern which changed the pale moon's light into a warm yellow, but I was a little too entranced within my own thoughts to look at the person as I simply thought they would pass me.
It was only when they sat down on the same bench as I did, did I think about their presence. Their lantern had taken precedence in our little area, engulfing our surroundings with a warm yellow light.
"Are you troubled, Junior Sister? People don't normally sit in a dark park all alone, you know?"
The moment I heard his voice it was like something clicked in me. In an instant I turned my head towards the voice to see the man I had tried to go after the last few years of my life.
It has been close to, if not an entire decade since I've seen him, but he hasn't changed much. If anything his looks have matured just that bit more giving it an extra little something.
Those dark brown almost void like eyes felt like it would captivate me once more. Yet with a glimmer shone from his lantern his eyes came to life as he gently smiled at me. There he sat next to me in one of the Inner Disciple robes separated by the lantern he placed.
I stared at him with shock as even though I felt mentally prepared I still failed in the end. Hope to see him was one thing, but actually seeing him again was entirely different. I felt my eyes bulge out a bit and my mouth was slightly agape, trembling as my mind raced to find a coherent thought to progress to saying.
"Junior Sister, are you ok?" He tilted his head to the side a little as his eyebrows raised slightly and expressed some concern for me.
At that question I straightened up and replied with an awkward smile. With my right arm I raised it up to nervously scratch the back of my head as I tilted it forward just a bit.
"A-ah! I'm fine, I'm fine! Don't worry about me!"
His expression went back to that of his gentle smile from beforehand, but mixed in there was still a bit of concern that I could discern from him.
"Ah? Ok, what brings you out here at night? Not many others would do such a thing, instead they would probably focus on their cultivation."
'Oh uh, what should I say! I can't tell him the truth that the whole reason I'm in the sect in the first place was to find him! Should I simply ask him the same question? No, if I do he might think I'm being defensive and might actually leave me alone then! Ah maybe I'll just tell him about how I died, but I'll just tweak a few things. Maybe I can get him interested and come to find me every once in a while!'
"I'm just out here reminiscing about a small tragedy that occurred to me."
'Please ask me about it! Please ask me about it!'
"If you need to relieve some stress I'll be happy to hear you out."
'YES!'
"You would like to hear about it? Hmm, I suppose I wouldn't mind telling you, but are you sure you would want to be with me here? I'm not holding you from going anywhere am I?"
"No of course not, go on and take your time speaking."
"Alright, if you say so. I was with a large group of people once who liked to compete in a competition with each other, there we bickered and fought, but overall our group seemed to strike a good balance with one another, or well at the very least no one had ever gone overboard.
We'd all had our little accomplishments, but there was a newcomer to our group. Unlike those present this newcomer was a little deranged, but we all put up with her. It wasn't like our competition was closed off to the public, but that was our mistake.
She wanted to win at this competition like it was an obsession. She pulled everything she could to get an advantage over us. Even then we endured, that is until we found out she had even killed one of our own in the group.
At that moment we finally couldn't put up with it anymore and everyone gathered together to take her down. But, who knew that she would know where our meeting point was and before we could even come up with a plan for her we were entrapped by her. Her cultivation was on another level compared to our own and at that point we were simply like lambs waiting for our slaughter.
But somehow by some miracle I managed to escape, even though now I have to face life with these horrendous scars."
As I spoke that last sentence my eyes switched between the ground and his face as I awaited a response from him.
I felt two light pats on my back before he spoke.
"Don't say that, those scars only enhance your aesthetic. The one across your left eye specifically adds a specific kind of charm which only stands to amplify your beauty.
Don't degrade yourself because of something like this, but if you really hate it that much you could probably find some medicine to help you get rid of it."
"T-thank you… my name is Yi Feng."
I blushed even though those were the words I was hoping to hear and at this moment I finally remembered that I should remember his soul signature. But I couldn't seem to get it even though I was able to capture Li Daji's so easily, perhaps he was wearing something that blocked his signature from being found. All the ones I remembered in my previous life seemed to have vanished for some reason so I had to start anew.
"It's nice to meet you Yi Feng, you can simply call me Senior Brother Ip. Let me tell you about someone I know who had scars, in fact she had plenty more than you and her name just so happened to be yours as well."
"R-really?"
'Is… is he talking about me?'