486 Retreating from the World
An evening breeze arose, lightly whisking through the woods.
Like fluttering snowflakes, sprinkling peach blossom petals scattered onto that suit of red clothing.
The surface of the crystalline lake sparkled in the sunlight as schools of fish swam within it, the creek flowing into it meandering under the refreshing breeze.
At this time, a small, fragmented peach blossom petal fell gently onto her naturally rosy lips.
Her crescent brows stirred, and she lifted her eyelids. A pair of eyes, pitch-black like a deep pool of water, opened slightly.
"Master, you've already laid here for two days and two nights!" A little treant ran over while skipping and swaying its tree limbs. "If you keep lying there, your whole body will be overgrown with small mushrooms."
"Qiuqiu. How long have I slept."
"Two days and two nights." The little treant hopped a few times beside her. "Master, you should get up."
Qiao Mu stretched out her hand to pluck the fragmented petal sticking to her lips. Her eyes, like ice beads, moved apathetically as she turned her head to look at the sapling.
"What do I have to do today?"
"Master, there's actually not much else to do. You've already sowed all the seeds into the earth these past few days. Many of the medicinal plants have already started sprouting vigorously, and the vegetable fields are already ready for several rounds of harvesting."
"You go harvest them then." Qiao Mu grabbed a thin book to cover her face. "I'll sleep for a while more."
The sapling: …
"Gurgle!" A small ice bead rolled to the little treant's feet. A small paw suddenly extended from the ice bead and scratched the little treant's trunk.
However, the little treant brusquely whipped it with one of its branches.
"Gurgle!" That ice bead thought that it had concealed itself very well, hiding underneath the little treant's leaves the whole time.
When they occasionally approached their master, it would only glance at her secretly before withdrawing its head and going back into hiding.
"Don't act so sneaky like that!" The little treant reprimanded it in both annoyance and amusement. "You think Master is a fool? She has long known that you haven't scrammed."
"Gurgle?"
"Speak in the human language!" The little treant was so irritated that it clenched its tree hand and clobbered the ice bead with its fist.
"Master has laid there for two days and two nights. Is she not hungry?" The small water blob asked pitifully.
The little treant sighed. When it turned its head around, it froze all of a sudden. Those red robes had long disappeared from underneath those peach blossom trees.
She didn't know how very long it had been since she had come to this hillside.
It faced the peach blossom forest and was encircled by a jade lake. The hill was covered with green grass, as well as luxuriant flowers that gave off an intoxicating fragrance.
Qiao Mu stood before a nameless burial mound. She stood there for a long time, completely motionless.
Her slim figure, imposing and upright, stood before the grave. Ten slender fingers peeked out from her fiery-red sleeves.
With a motion of her hand, two jugs of wine appeared in her hands.
After breaking the seal, Qiao Mu took a sip. She then inverted the jug, letting the wine splash into the dirt.
Fellow sect members, Qiaoqiao will drink first to show respect!
"Master." The little treant hopped as it jogged over. "Master, you?"
"I haven't visited in a long time, right?"
The sapling answered "Mhm" dispiritedly. Master, ever since you buried everyone from the Holy Water Sect here, you haven't dropped by at all!
"Qiuqiu, how long have I stayed here?"
"It's been a long time, Master. It's already been a bit more than two years." The sapling gently tugged at her sleeve with its branches.
Its heart ached for its master when she was like this.
Qiao Mu walked several steps forward and stopped before an ice-sealed coffin. She stared dully past that thick layer of ice at Xu Shanshan, the person lying in there.
With a motion of her fingers, she placed a peach blossom on top of her ice coffin.
