Over on their side, Li Xin was chatting and laughing with the little girl named Qiao’er.
After paying his respects to Li Xin and Old Senior Jin Hua, Mo Baiyu also took the initiative to greet Bai Ze and Leng Jue.
Bai Ze and Leng Jue merely nodded faintly in acknowledgment, a perfunctory response.
This somewhat embarrassed Mo Baiyu and bruised his pride. Although inwardly displeased, he could not, nor dared he, show it. On the surface, he still appeared as the refined and elegant gentleman.
"All of you have traveled from distant celestial domains, enduring hardship along the way. That we meet here is a kind of fate," said Bai Ze, clad in a white robe, appearing handsome and poised, even more refined and elegant than the fair-faced Mo Bai Yu. His transcendent aura was particularly unique among the crowd.
With one hand resting before him and the other behind his back, his gentle gaze swept over the assembled people as he smiled faintly. "Pray, do not let momentary pride injure mutual harmony. Should anyone cause trouble here, do not blame me, Bai Ze, for not sparing them face."
"I quite agree with what Immortal Bai Ze says," Fuying replied, a strange smile playing on his lips. "However, you must have also seen that it is not we who wish to stir trouble, but someone who repeatedly seeks to provoke us."
Everyone understood Fuying was referring to Yuanwu.
Yuanwu snorted coldly, standing with an arrogant expression, and paid no heed.
Bai Ze glanced at Yuanwu with a smile, but only briefly, then addressed the crowd again. "My words shall be spoken only once. I hope you all bear them in mind."
Not far away, the girl called Qiao’er seemed to harbor considerable dislike for Yuanwu, muttering, "Why is it this fellow again, honestly… It’s always this guy causing trouble… So annoying."
"Does this youngster often cause trouble?" Li Xin asked.
Qiao’er nodded in response. "Senior Aunt Li Xin, you don’t know, but this fellow is really obnoxious. He thinks he’s so great, always opposing others and showing off. It’s utterly tiresome…"
"Young people tend to be spirited. While it’s not necessarily a good thing, it’s also not entirely a bad one. Competing for favor and feeling jealousy is quite normal," Li Xin said, speaking from experience. "Trying to impress someone you admire is completely understandable."
"But what’s the use of showing off? Senior Martial Sister Qingqing wouldn’t like them anyway. Not only would she not like them, Senior Martial Sister Qingqing has said the kind of people she dislikes most are precisely these self-righteous types. And this fellow is not only self-righteous, he’s also utterly arrogant, with no sense of proportion."
Qiao’er pouted and continued, "I really don’t know what they’re thinking. Senior Martial Sister Qingqing long ago said she wouldn’t even consider taking a cultivation partner. Yet these guys still follow her around like shadows, trailing wherever Senior Martial Sister Qingqing goes…"
"Ah, Qiao’er, you’re still young. There are many things you haven’t experienced. When you grow up one day and meet someone who captures your heart at first sight, you’ll understand their actions now."
Li Xin sighed with feeling. "If you fall in love with someone, you truly can go mad for them, lose your reason for them, let them cloud your judgment, do any manner of things that seem utterly foolish to others…"
"Really?" Qiao’er blinked her large eyes, asking curiously, "Senior Aunt Li Xin, have you also done many, many foolish things for someone you admired?"
"Me?" Li Xin shook her head. "I have not."
"Ah? Then all these years, have you never met a single man who made your heart flutter?"
"Your Senior Aunt has lived most of her life with others admiring me, going crazy for me, doing foolish things for me. Your Senior Aunt has yet to meet someone who captured my heart at first sight in this lifetime, let alone do foolish things for him."
Li Xin stroked Qiao’er’s azure-blue hair. "Qiao’er, when you grow up in the future, if you meet someone who captures your heart at first sight, that would be wonderful. But if you don’t, you mustn’t be like your Senior Aunt, foolishly waiting like this, dreaming that one day you’ll finally meet that person. Those so-called myths, those so-called legends… they’re all lies."
"Your Senior Aunt is a perfect example. In my youth, I looked down on all those who pursued me, not knowing to cherish them, dreaming that one day I would meet the one I admired. I waited year after year… I’ve long forgotten how many years I’ve waited. Until now, I remain alone. Looking back, I’ve already aged, like a withering rose, long since dried up and forgotten… Ah… How I regret it…"
At this moment, Old Senior Jin Hua nearby remarked, "Since you regret it, then hurry up and find someone, anyone, to marry."
"Honestly!" Li Xin shot Old Senior Jin Hua a sidelong glance. "Why should I just find anyone to marry…"
"If you don’t marry soon, you really will age and fade… Then you’ll truly be like that withering rose, forgotten…"
"Well, I’ve already waited this many years… This rose of mine has already withered… Since that’s the case, I might as well keep waiting. What if… what if I do meet the one who captures my heart at first sight?"
Seeing Li Xin still stubbornly clinging to her delusion, Old Senior Jin Hua could only shake her head and sigh. "Then keep on with your pipe dream…"
Regarding Li Xin, Old Senior Jin Hua felt nothing but helplessness.
Within the Eternal Life Pavilion, among the female disciples of Li Xin’s generation, nearly all had their own cultivation partners. Some even had children and grandchildren filling their halls long ago. Only Li Xin remained alone.
Truth be told, among the disciples of her generation, Li Xin was also an outstanding presence. In her day, she was a renowned beauty and celestial prodigy. Her fame for beauty, if not known throughout all the heavens and myriad realms, was at least widespread across the Great Desolate. The number of admirers she had surpassed even that of today’s Supreme Immortal Qingqing.
Precisely because of this, Li Xin’s eyes were spoiled for choice.
Or rather, it wasn’t that her eyes were spoiled, but that she always held an attitude of preferring none to settling for less. She dreamed that one day she would meet a man who captured her heart at first sight. Unfortunately, just as she herself said, she waited year after year, from the Ancient Era into the Present-Ancient Era, and still had not met a man who stirred her heart.
To say she didn’t regret it would be false.
Especially seeing her former friends, each and every one paired off, made Li Xin unbearably envious.
But what could she do? Should she just find someone to become cultivation partners with? Settle for a lifetime?
This question had tormented Li Xin for a long time. Tormented her nearly to the point of obsession.
In the end, she still abandoned the thought. In her mind, since she had already waited this long, if she just found someone to become cultivation partners with, wouldn’t all these years of waiting have been in vain?
Thus, Li Xin resolved to continue waiting. Even if she never met a man who stirred her heart, at worst she’d spend her life alone. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t live without a man.