274: New Norm (Bai Ye's Memory)

New Norm (Bai Ye's Memory)

Slowly, things did settle into a new norm for Bai Ye. He would still wake up, revisit his sword techniques, meditate, go through some old literature, meditate, and repeat. The difference now was that he would wake up much later after sunrise, reluctant to let go of the warmth he was holding in his arms. He would take longer with sword practices, so that he could satisfy himself with the view of his opponent and the surprises she readied for him. He would focus his reading almost exclusively on sword spirits and demonic swords, to find whatever methods and tricks to further strengthen her body and power.0

Those methods did help. The two of them kept tweaking her bonding technique with Twin Stars, and after a long series of trial and error, they gradually found the right set of changes to help her best absorb the power of the swords. Her meditation sessions started getting longer, and Bai Ye would sometimes join her, to watch over her progress and help her through any new discoveries on the way.

The biggest change to his life, however, was none of these. It was the fact that sword art ceased to be the only thing he desired and wanted to dedicate himself to pursuing. It was still important to him, of course, but he had come to realize that there were other things in life worth his time and effort, other things that needed his care.

He wanted to do so much more now. He started traveling off of Mount Hua more often, to show the rest of the world to the sword spirit whenever they had time. They began at the nearby villages, and it wasn't long before their tracks extended all over the country, from the busiest streets of the capital city to the most remote mountain ranges. He explained to her the different customs of people living in different regions, visited festivals and fairs that made her gawk at every brightly colored thing she had never seen before. She taught him the plants and animals she remembered from her vague consciousness centuries ago, and they experimented with potions and ointments from time to time, broadening their horizon on new knowledge that Bai Ye had never given a thought to before.

But no matter how far they wandered, the hall at Mount Hua was their home. When they weren't busy exploring the outside world, they regularly revisited the layout and decorations of the place, making small additions to it every now and then. The eastern wall Bai Ye mentioned to her years ago was reworked—after a series of long arguments where he finally convinced her that having it arranged in a way she liked was much more important than the original design facilitating the spiritual power flow—and the extra space was soon filled by a dazzling collection of flowers and herbs. The new shelter for her animals also grew larger year after year, and they were even surprised by the visit of a mythical beast at one point, attracted to their cozy home filled with healing power and tender love.

Yes, love. That was what Bai Ye felt every day, and that was what made the next one-hundred years pass all too quickly. He was quite sure that their rescued friends in the shelter felt the same way as well, and somewhat surprisingly, he had slowly grown from passively accepting their presence to starting to care about them as well. So when he noticed one day that the newly arrived baby birds were looking much less energetic than usual, he stopped to examine them.

"What's wrong?" the sword spirit, who happened to be passing through the garden at the same time, came up to him and asked.

"Aren't these the magpies you found last month?" Bai Ye held up one of the nestlings. "They somehow seem to be recovering much slower than usual."

The rescues rarely spent weeks in their shelter without visible recoveries. The sword spirit had a gift for healing, both with herbs and with her spiritual power. It never took long before she'd nurture them back to health and send them on their merry way to where they belonged.

She padded over. "Oh … Thanks for reminding me. I've gotten so busy the past couple of weeks that I forgot to check on them … Here." She carefully cupped her hands around the tiny bird and started to summon a spell under her breath.

Bai Ye didn't quite remember anything significant that happened recently to keep her so busy, except … He gave her a sideways glance. "Are you blaming me for keeping you up too late at night? That's not really a good excuse to ignore your daily errands."

She chuckled and glared at him back. "Is it not? Did you forget how I had to skip practice yesterday because I was so sore that I could barely move? Whose fault might that be?" She pulled her hand back, examining the bird. "Guess I'll have to pay extra attention to this one from now on … She missed the best time for healing, poor thing. I hope I can still do something to fix that injury."

Bai Ye was a bit surprised by the tone she spoke those words with. Usually, when she was concerned about the health of her little animals, he would hear the worry in her voice and see it in her eyes. But she seemed somewhat absentminded today … If not for the careful handling and gentle touch she was giving the poor creature, Bai Ye might've thought that she didn't quite mean what she said.

He shook his head. She must just really be tired, and it did appear to be his fault. "We'll get some good rest tonight." He planted a light kiss on her cheek. "And don't worry too much about the birds, we'll find a way to save them."

She nodded, though only after another chuckle that clearly suggested her doubt in his plans for the night. Together, they returned the bird back to its nest.

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