263: Our Home (Bai Ye's Memory)

Our Home (Bai Ye's Memory)

It turned out he was wrong. Very wrong. Because after almost two months, he still couldn't adjust to this new life at all.1

"Master, will you come over to the garden please?"

Bai Ye grunted when he heard the voice drifting on the wind through his window. He had barely started his reading for the day, and the trouble maker was already interrupting him again. Since when did she sneak into the garden?

For the past two months, he could never step into his own garden without being confused by its ever-changing look. In the short amount of time this girl had been here, she had rearranged all the pots and decorative stones, trimmed every tree and bush, and added five injured animals to the small rescue corner she fenced up by the corridors. If Bai Ye didn't know any better, he would've thought she was a wood spirit instead of a sword spirit. But then again, he supposed that the affinity to nature came as an expected result of her soul forming from the pristine power of heaven and earth.

"Master?"

Setting down his book reluctantly, Bai Ye rose from his seat and stepped outside. The morning sun was still low in the east, and the girl was standing under the shade of the tall pine behind his room. His eyes landed immediately on the shovel in her hands and the loose dirt beneath her feet. "Don't tell me you were digging for earthworms," he mumbled. At this point though, nothing the girl had done would surprise him.

Her eyes gleamed. "That's a great idea! The bird I showed you last week is healing fast, so she'll probably need more food soon …" She paused with a giggle as Bai Ye shot her a stare. "But I know, I know. I won't turn your pretty garden upside down just to find earthworms. I was actually planting something, and I thought I'd ask if there's a particular layout you like for this new addition."

Bai Ye didn't notice the plants lying next to her till then. A few short bundles that looked like oversized grass. "What is this?" He wouldn't pretend that he knew or cared anything about plants. "Why do you want them here?"

"It's Moon Shadow Grass, a plant that excels in absorbing yin spiritual power around it. I've noticed since autumn started that Mount Hua is quite heavy in yin, especially in the mornings when the main peak is shrouded in mist. Usually, this is a beneficial flow of power to cultivators, but since you've already been using Twin Stars for a long time, the additional yin power might eventually become excessive and affect you negatively. It's best to prepare for it and balance the yin-yang in your hall before it's too late."

The look on her face had never been so serious in the past two months. Bai Ye stared at her, dazed. The little trouble maker was doing this because … she was concerned about his health?

"Do you not believe me?" she saw the puzzlement in his eyes and asked. "I have no idea how I know this. A part of me seems to have a vague recollection of a forest … With all kinds of plants that I rarely see here at Mount Hua. I don't remember when or where that was, but somehow I know all the names and uses of those plants, and I'm positive that whatever I remember is correct. It's been imprinted in my mind before I was even aware of my own existence."

"N-No, it's not that I don't believe you." Bai Ye was surprised to find himself stuttering a little. "You must be remembering the place where you were born, where the spiritual power to forge Twin Stars was collected. It makes perfect sense. I was only caught off guard by … by how much you know about the balance of spiritual power."

Well, that was the longest conversation he had ever exchanged with this girl. It surprised him again. And why did he lie about the reason why he was caught off guard?

The girl's eyes lit up at his words. "So you would let me plant them?" she asked eagerly. "Then tell me how you like it! Did you like the way I lined up the flower pots under your window yesterday? Or do you want me to try something different? Planting is a little different from arranging pots … I can't change them once it's done."

Bai Ye shook his head. "It's just plants. Doesn't matter."

"Oh, it sure matters." The girl gave him a mysterious grin, and without warning, she pulled him by his wrist. "Come over here, let me show you."

His hand almost snapped back on instinct, alerted by her touch. But the girl didn't seem to notice. She gripped him tight and pulled him over to a higher viewpoint at the back of the garden. "Look!" She gestured at the view before them. "Doesn't it look beautiful this way?"

She let go of him then, and Bai Ye quickly hid his hand inside his sleeve, willing that awkward feeling to go away. This girl needed some lessons on proper etiquette in this world, he thought. Then he let his gaze follow hers, and he blinked at the sight.

The garden did look beautiful after her rearrangement. Different shades and sizes of greenery formed smooth lines and circles, accommodating the light and shadows as well as the gentle rolling of the ground beneath. But it wasn't just pleasing to the eyes. It didn't take him long to realize that the new layout followed the outline of a symbol, one that the ancestors used to draw around their dwellings to protect their families.

"The symbol of the Divine Guardian," he said.

A radiant smile danced over the girl's face. "I knew I did it right! Yes, I was trying to rearrange everything to help fortify the power in this hall. This is our home, Master. I want to give it the best we have and make it a safe and beautiful place. Do you like it?"

He looked at her, and he realized then that for the past two months, he might have failed to see this girl for who she truly was.

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