Chapter 147: Two Reasons

“What exactly are you, and what is your purpose in following us?” Shui Linglong’s voice sounded soft beside Flower Butterfly’s ear.

At that moment, the woman knew that her ploy had worked. Though this illusion was formidable, it was ultimately no more than a hallucination born from spiritual energy disrupting the body’s natural flow. As long as one carefully maintained the boundary between urgency and restraint, it was possible to evade the trap the other had laid. After that, all she needed to do was deliberately throw the spiritual energy within her body into confusion.

Spiritual energy could only be sensed across a few yards; that was an inescapable truth. Even with an illusion cast over such a broad area, it was impossible to perceive the condition of the person ensnared with perfect clarity. That was where her gamble lay.

Judging from the situation now, she was certain that she had won. Although she had not known Shui Linglong for long, she understood the woman’s temperament better than most. A person as excessively cautious as her would never take the next step without a sufficient degree of certainty.

Even so, Flower Butterfly decided she must remain careful. At the very least, her words could not arouse too much suspicion. Some truths had to be spoken; the only question was how to balance truth and falsehood. Thus, she steadied her thoughts and quickly considered the best way to respond. She had always been clever, and soon enough she had her answer.

“They all call me Flower Butterfly. Compared with Xiao Li, I suppose I prefer this name. A butterfly among flowers—if I could fly freely through the mountains and forests like one, that would be happiness enough. As for why I have been following you… No, to be precise, it is not a purpose but a reason. There are two.”

Shui Linglong was an exceptionally self-assured woman. The other’s reaction only strengthened that confidence for no discernible reason. At that moment, she had no inclination to doubt anything, and her attention naturally settled upon Flower Butterfly’s words. With a mixture of suspicion and curiosity, she continued, “Xiao Li and Flower Butterfly—both are fine names. Tell me, then, what are these reasons of yours? My Blue Lotus Cult is hardly a pleasant place. Ordinary people are afraid even to be associated with those three words, yet you actually wished to come here yourself. I must admit, that surprises me.”

“If you knew who I was, perhaps you would not find it so surprising.”

Though she had already resolved to tell the truth about certain things, Flower Butterfly was still unaccustomed to revealing her secrets to another person. Her voice trembled faintly as she spoke. The change was unusual, but so slight that Shui Linglong paid it no particular attention. Her thoughts were fixed on the reasons Flower Butterfly had mentioned. Besides, she had another concern: Han Tanyi had been following behind them all this time. She could not go too far and risk letting him discover anything amiss.

Then Flower Butterfly’s voice sounded again beside her ear.

“The Xiao family may not be one of the great clans, but it is hardly obscure. You know Xiao Jinghao, don’t you? He is my elder brother. In other words, I am the daughter of the former Prince of Qi—the present princess of the commandery. To other people, that identity may be an honor: a position high above the world, with endless wealth and splendor, mountains of gold and silver, and servants at one’s beck and call. But to me, it is a burden, an oppressive weight beneath which I can hardly breathe.”

The answer genuinely astonished Shui Linglong. She had known Flower Butterfly was no ordinary person, but she had assumed at most that the woman was connected to someone like Dao Tianfeng. Otherwise, she would never have lived in seclusion in the valley behind Mount Qilian. She had never imagined that Flower Butterfly belonged to the household of the Prince of Qi.

Her surprise lasted only a moment before she found the explanation plausible. If Flower Butterfly truly was a princess of the commandery, then the Bright Moon Manor’s abduction of her as a bargaining chip was entirely understandable. After all, the existence of Xiao Jinghao, Prince of Qi, was something Dao Tianfeng could not afford to disregard.

“So you hid in the Qilian Mountains to escape that identity? Your arrival there was merely an accident, then—not something you deliberately sought out. It was from that time onward that Xiao Jinghao became connected with the Qilian Mountains. No wonder that old devil Dao issued such a strange decree forbidding outsiders from entering the valley behind Mount Qilian—not even his own disciples.”

“People in the imperial court have always cared deeply about face and reputation, those empty things. Xiao Jinghao may be my brother, but he is also the Prince of Qi. Naturally, he would not want anyone to know that his own sister had done something like this. A refined young lady becoming a mountain woman—that would make him hold his head in shame. Since he cared so much about such things, why should I return to that cold place?

“As for the Blue Lotus Cult and the orthodox sects of the martial world, they are merely standing on different sides. Who is right and who is wrong? Who could ever say for certain? When you rescued me, I began to wonder: if no one had found the Blue Lotus Cult after all these years, why should I not hide among you? To withdraw from the world and live in seclusion—perhaps a mysterious place like this would suit me better than anywhere else. That is my first reason.”

Perhaps she had been speaking for too long, for Flower Butterfly’s breath had grown somewhat uneven. Much of what she had said was genuine, which made her account all the more convincing. The desire to withdraw from the world and live in seclusion was something she truly harbored in her heart.

Her connection with the Qilian Sect, however, had not been accidental. She knew that some unknown secret lay hidden there, perhaps even an old feud spanning two generations. At first, Flower Butterfly had been interested in learning the truth. Yet whenever she asked her mother, the woman always answered evasively, as if unwilling to explain everything clearly. Gradually, as the years of seclusion passed, Flower Butterfly ceased to care.

The only time her heart had stirred again was when that man suddenly joined the Qilian Sect. She had never clearly seen his face. He always came at night, standing silently outside her door for a little while, watching the shadow moving within, yet never taking the initiative to say a single word. Compared with Han Tanyi, he was truly as different as heaven from earth.

Even so, Flower Butterfly knew that he was certainly a man with a story.

“That is indeed a reason. I may not be willing to believe it, but neither do I wish to contradict you. Life is full of helplessness. There are always things one does not wish to do.”

Shui Linglong’s reply carried a trace of emotion. Her thoughts had become complicated. She blinked hard, and a cold smile touched her cheeks, as though she wished to ease her own feelings through mockery. No matter how carefully she concealed it, the meaning was easy to discern, and Flower Butterfly naturally noticed.

“It seems you are like me,” Flower Butterfly said. “You, too, have an identity you never wanted and things you were unwilling to accept?”

“Me?”

Shui Linglong had been about to say more when she suddenly came to herself. She was the one who had created this illusion, and her purpose was to uncover another person’s true thoughts. Yet she had nearly been drawn into the illusion herself by the emotions it stirred.

Now that she had realized what was happening, her tone shifted at once.

“Those are matters of the past. There is no need to mention them. You said there were two reasons. What is the second?”

“The second…”

Her expression, so candid a moment before, suddenly grew coy. She lowered her head slightly, as though overcome by the particular shyness of an unmarried young woman. A faint flush appeared on her cheeks, adding further charm to her already beautiful features and lending them a distinctly seductive air.

There was perhaps only one possible explanation for a woman looking like that.

No one knew how long she remained silent. At last, she raised her head a little and asked in a soft voice, “They say that in this life, only two things truly captivate people. The first is love, and the second is fine wine and good food. I can provide the wine and food myself, so all I want is a man who can give me love and savor the delicacies I prepare.

“And now I know that I have found him. Wherever he goes, I will go. It was not easy to find him, and I do not want to lose him so easily.”

If Shui Linglong had still harbored some doubt about the first reason, then the second sent her heart into turmoil. For some inexplicable reason, her expression went blank. Two men’s faces flashed before her eyes in quick succession. They resembled one another in certain ways, yet were also utterly different.

The first had gradually grown blurred with the passing of time. But she could never forget the second. Nearly four years was not an especially long time, yet for a woman to persist for so long merely in the hope of seeing someone once more was enough to reveal how deeply he occupied her heart.

Fortunately, fate had not toyed with her as cruelly as it had with Shao Donghua and the woman she had once been, Shui Lianhua. Now she was Shui Linglong, and he was walking directly behind her. With a single turn, she could reach out and touch his face.

Perhaps that, too, was a kind of happiness.

For the first time, she almost felt like thanking Dao Tianfeng for that sword strike. If the blow had not been so decisive, it could never have severed Han Tanyi’s identity as a disciple of one of the Four Great Sects so completely. Perhaps she and that man would have been forced to repeat the fate of twenty years before.

With that thought, she once again reflected on what Flower Butterfly had just said. Without realizing it, she murmured softly, “Wherever he goes, I will go… Perhaps once I hand this thing over, I will be able to do the same?”