We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 469: I Am Not a Fool

On the morning of the day after Tushan Jingci's birthday, Xiao Mo had only just woken up when a maidservant came to the kitchen courtyard and led him to his new quarters."From now on, you will live here. This place is less than a quarter of an hour's walk from the Young Miss's courtyard. In a few days the Young Miss will be heading to the Hanshan Academy, and you will accompany her as her book attendant."

"During these few days, you will be taught some of the etiquette and general knowledge expected at the Hanshan Academy."

"At the Hanshan Academy, you will encounter many young disciples of high standing. You must not break the rules, and above all you must not cause the Young Miss to lose face. Understood?"

The maidservant said these things to Xiao Mo with a look of faint disdain on her face.

In truth, no matter how she thought about it, this maidservant could not understand why the Lady would have a lowly human serve as the Young Miss's book attendant.

Given the Young Miss's noble standing, what right did this male have to accompany her?

"Please set your mind at ease, Elder Sister. I understand." Xiao Mo clasped his hands and bowed in acknowledgment.

"As long as you know."

The maidservant gave Xiao Mo one last glance, said nothing more, turned, and left.

Standing in the courtyard, Xiao Mo looked around at the quarters where he would be living from now on.

The courtyard was not large, but not too small either.

A faint, pleasant fragrance drifted through it.

Xiao Mo felt this was likely a place where a maidservant had previously lived, now given over to him and for a maidservant to have lived in a courtyard like this, she must have held a fairly high standing among the servants.

"Is the Lady of Mount Tu truly being this good to me?"

The more Xiao Mo looked at this courtyard, the more something about it struck him as odd.

"Never mind. No point overthinking things that are not my concern. Just do my own part well. Perhaps the Lady of Mount Tu has seen that my natural gifts are genuinely decent and wants to cultivate my loyalty."

Xiao Mo shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

After all, he was starting from nothing. Even if she had some ulterior motive, what could she possibly want from him?

Whatever the case, he would first focus on cultivating diligently and raising his cultivation level.

In this world, only sufficient strength gave one the right to speak, and the ability to survive better in this Demon Realm.

Setting aside his wandering thoughts, Xiao Mo drew out "The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet" and continued his cultivation.

After a night of rest, Xiao Mo found his mental state considerably improved.

Although compared to his reading speed on the first day, his pace through "The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet" now felt like a tortoise crawling forward, at least he was still moving.

Whenever Xiao Mo reached a point where he truly could not read further, he would go back to the beginning and read through those first ten pages again.

Each time Xiao Mo read them, he would enter a state of communion with the Dao, dreaming a deeply relaxed and nature-close dream.

When he woke, he could feel that his cultivation had advanced by a small measure.

Without fully realizing it, three days passed.

During those three days, Tushan Jingci came to find Xiao Mo to play every single day, though each visit was quite short and every time Tushan Jingci came to Xiao Mo's courtyard, she would pour out her grievances to him.

She did not look happy at all the way she had before because Tushan Jingci had heard from her mother that after her birthday passed, she would be free to go outside the residence and play but since Tushan Jingci was about to go to the academy to study, she first had to learn some etiquette, and so was required to attend lessons within the residence every day.

Even the time she carved out to come and find Xiao Mo was squeezed from a busy schedule.

Despite her complaints, however, Tushan Jingci was learning the rules of etiquette with genuine diligence and deep in her heart, the little girl was also very much looking forward to it.

She had heard that there were many children her own age at the academy.

Once she got there, both she and Xiao Mo would be able to make more friends!

And her mother had said that after she went to the academy, her mother would not be able to stay with her all the time.

Without her mother around to manage her, did that not mean she could play freely however she liked, without a care in the world?

So compared to how happy life would be going forward, Tushan Jingci felt that suffering a little right now was perfectly fine.

Two more days passed.

At last, the day to set out for the academy arrived.

The Lady of Mount Tu piloted a flying vessel and brought Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo to the Hanshan Academy.

Over these few days, Xiao Mo had gathered some information about the Hanshan Academy.

The Hanshan Academy was the one and only academy in the Demon Realm.

To date, the academy was barely six hundred years old, making it quite young by any measure and when the Hanshan Academy had first been established, it had faced enormous opposition.

Although the academy did also teach some cultivation arts, its primary focus was on the Confucian scholarship of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm.

In the eyes of most demon folk, they were born as demons, and had absolutely no need to study the so-called Confucian scholarship of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm.

Not only Confucian scholarship. In the hearts of these demon folk, all such learning was nothing but stale and pedantic nonsense.

After all, the demon clan was born as the natural enemy of the human clan. And now they were being asked to study the ways of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm. Was that not absurd?

Humans should conduct themselves as humans, and demons should retain their demonic nature but in the end, as the gap between the Ten Thousand Laws Realm and the Demon Realm grew wider and wider, and after the Demon Realm suffered another crushing defeat in the second great war between humans and demons, these two defeats at the hands of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm drove the Demon Realm into deep reflection.

Many demon folk began thinking about the reasons for their defeats.

A good number came to feel that precisely because the Demon Realm was too fragmented, with no culture of education and moral cultivation, it had stagnated and failed to advance over so many years.

And so the voices calling for the establishment of an academy in the Demon Realm grew louder and louder.

Learn from others' strengths to counter them.

In the end, it was an old man named Gui Ning who made the decisive call, overriding all objections, and resolved to build this academy.

To the point that now, much of the etiquette and moral education found among demon folk was modeled after the ways of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm.

Of course, there were still demon folk who disdained learning from the Ten Thousand Laws Realm, and who continued to adhere to their old customs and rules.

One side considered the other too rigid and inflexible.

The other side considered those who studied the Ten Thousand Laws Realm to be neither properly demon nor properly human, and held them in equal contempt.

And so the two sides sometimes came into conflict.

Though speaking of which, when Xiao Mo heard mention of the second great war between humans and demons, for some reason a faint sense of familiarity stirred in him, though he could not recall at all how or why.

After approximately half a day's travel, the flying vessel finally arrived at the Hanshan Academy.

Xiao Mo gazed out at the academy. It occupied more than thirty mountain peaks, its grounds extraordinarily vast. The architecture blended Confucian characteristics with the stylistic touches of the Demon Realm.

Most importantly, compared to demon energy, what filled the air above the academy was far more of an aura of scholarly ink and culture.

Xiao Mo pulled his gaze back and took a look at Tushan Jingci beside him.

The little girl's eyes were bright with delight.

Barring any unexpected circumstances, this period of study at the Hanshan Academy would last as long as twenty years.

During those twenty years, Tushan Jingci would not be permitted to return home. She could only live within the academy.

After twenty years, regardless of what Tushan Jingci had learned, once the term was complete, she would be asked to leave the mountain.

Upon entering the academy, Tushan Xinhua made their identities known, and a disciple of the academy came to escort them to meet the dean of the Hanshan Academy.

The dean of the Hanshan Academy was a great demon at the late stage of the Immortal realm.

This dean was a demon cultivator possessing the bloodline of Qiongqi but he had not retained any visible demon traits, and there was not the slightest trace of demon energy about him. His entire being radiated nothing but Vast Righteous Qi.

After Tushan Xinhua exchanged a few pleasantries with the dean, she brought her daughter to complete the enrollment formalities.

As evening drew near, all the affairs were settled, and Tushan Jingci had her own small private courtyard.

Xiao Mo, Yueshi, and the other two maidservants also lived within the courtyard.

"Jingci, Mother has to go back now."

As the sun set, Tushan Xinhua smoothed her skirt and crouched down to cup her daughter's face in her hands, looking at her daughter with reluctance.

"From now on, you must study hard at the academy and cultivate diligently. If anyone bullies you or if anything makes you feel wronged, tell Mother, and Mother will stand up for you."

"But you must also not be too mischievous or make your teachers angry. And you must not bully your classmates either. Otherwise Mother will be upset too. Understood?"

"Understood, Mother." Tushan Jingci sniffled, her beautiful fox eyes shimmering with tears. "Mother, actually I do not want to study anymore. I want to go back with Mother and stay with you."

Before this, Tushan Jingci had imagined that once she went to the academy to study, with her mother not there to manage her, she would be free to play however she liked and would be very happy but now, faced with the moment of parting, the little girl felt an overwhelming reluctance to let go.

"Foolish girl. A girl who does not study does not understand the world." Tushan Xinhua gently dabbed the tears from the corners of her daughter's eyes. "In the future, when you are grown and meet a man, you might be deceived without even knowing it. At the academy, do not spend all your time playing. You must be a good girl. Understood?"

"I understand... Jingci will be good... Mother, you must come and visit Jingci often." Tushan Jingci sniffled.

"Mm. Mother will come and visit Jingci several times each month."

Tushan Xinhua pinched her daughter's small nose, then stood up and gave a few words of instruction to Yueshi and Xiao Mo, asking them to take good care of Jingci.

Finally, Tushan Xinhua and her daughter embraced for a long time before she at last reluctantly left the academy.

Watching her mother fly further and further into the distance, Tushan Jingci stood in place for a long while without moving.

At dinner, Tushan Jingci, who was usually the most enthusiastic about eating, now had no appetite at all and stared at her rice bowl without touching it.

Yueshi coaxed her for a long time before Tushan Jingci finally ate a little.

Before long, night fell.

After bathing in the courtyard's washing room, Tushan Jingci and the others went back to their rooms to rest.

In the deep of night, the courtyard fell into still silence with no one about.

Only then did Xiao Mo step out into the courtyard, draw several buckets of cold water for a simple rinse, then sit down on a stone bench, silently reciting "The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet" in his mind while absorbing the essence of the moonlight.

The moonlight gathered around Xiao Mo's body, setting a faint, soft halo of light around him.

Half an hour later, a night breeze drifted past the tip of Xiao Mo's nose.

Xiao Mo sniffed, and caught a faint, familiar fragrance carried on the wind.

He opened his eyes and saw Tushan Jingci sitting beside him.

The little girl's great fox tail swayed back and forth behind her, and her large, dewy eyes looked at Xiao Mo with curiosity. "Xiao Mo, why are you glowing?"

"It is because of the cultivation method I practice." Xiao Mo drew his spiritual energy back in.

"A cultivation method? If I practiced your cultivation method, Xiao Mo, would I be able to glow like you too?" Tushan Jingci asked curiously.

"That should be possible. But the Young Miss has no need to practice this method. The Young Miss's innate cultivation art is one that can attain the great Dao on its own."

Xiao Mo explained.

The bloodline of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox was as precious as that of the true dragon, true phoenix, Tengshe, Qiongqi, Di Jiang, and other ancient divine beasts.

Divine beasts of this kind all possessed innate divine abilities within their bloodlines, abilities that would be naturally comprehended as they grew in age and cultivation level.

There was therefore no need to divide one's attention by learning other arts.

"Oh..."

Tushan Jingci gave a nod and did not pursue the question further.

She hugged her knees to her chest, rested her soft, pale chin on her knees, and blinked her fox eyes as she looked out at the distant stars.

Xiao Mo looked at Tushan Jingci's wide eyes and shifted the conversation, asking with a smile, "It is so late. Why has the Young Miss not gone to sleep yet?"

"I cannot sleep."

Tushan Jingci puffed her cheeks and shook her head slightly, hugging her knees a little more tightly.

"Before, I always found Mother too strict. She managed everything I did, and I was always thinking about how much I wanted to just play freely."

"But now that Mother is not here, I find myself unable to adjust."

"Xiao Mo..." Tushan Jingci turned her head and looked into Xiao Mo's eyes. "Am I strange?"

"Not at all." Xiao Mo shook his head. "It is simply human nature."

Tushan Jingci said, "But I am not human."

Xiao Mo paused, then amended, "Then demon nature."

"..."

Tushan Jingci felt Xiao Mo was brushing her off, but she did not dwell on it. She turned her gaze away, chin resting on her knees, and continued.

"Actually, I do not want to study anymore. I want to go home..."

"Although Mother says that a girl who studies will understand the world and not be deceived by men in the future, I do not think that makes any sense."

"Why?" Xiao Mo asked with puzzlement.

"Xiao Mo, you are so slow."

The snow-white fluffy tail behind Tushan Jingci gave Xiao Mo's back a light pat.

"I am not a fool. How would I be so easily deceived by a man?"

"The only one who could ever deceive me would be the person I come to love."

"But if I already love him, then whatever he says I will believe anyway. What difference would reading more books make?"

"Xiao Mo, do you think I am right?"

Listening to the Young Miss's words, Xiao Mo was briefly taken aback, then smiled. "What the Young Miss says does have some truth to it."

"Right, right!" Seeing Xiao Mo agree with her, Tushan Jingci sat up straight and said happily, "So Mother is so silly!"

Xiao Mo said nothing to that, only smiled faintly.

"Then Xiao Mo, would you ever deceive me?" Tushan Jingci tilted her head and looked at Xiao Mo's profile.

"No." Xiao Mo answered.

"I knew you would not." Tushan Jingci's eyes curved into crescents. "And you are just like Mother, a little slow. If you tried to deceive me, I would see through it right away. I am very clever."

"That is true..."

Xiao Mo gave a nod and looked out at the river of stars in the distance, at the courtyard beneath that starry sky, where the shadows of two small figures stretched longer and longer.

"The Young Miss is very clever indeed."