Bai Shuishui turned around and smiled. "Martial Uncle, you're back."
A Taoist with graying temples, kind eyebrows, dressed in a Taoist robe came over: "This poor Taoist came to look for your master. Is he here?"
"He's inside." Bai Shuishui nodded, indicating that her master was in the meditation room.
Bai Shuishui then bowed in the Taoist style, and spoke gently: "Martial Uncle went out to exchange knowledge on behalf of Lingyun Taoist Temple. Thank you for your hard work Martial Uncle."
Two years ago, Martial Uncle represented Lingyun Temple in seeking the way of Tao with other temples. He had only returned today.
The Taoist stroked his beard, looking kindly at Bai Shuishui: "Martial Niece, would you be so kind as to brew some tea? This poor one has matters to discuss with the abbot."
"Yes, Martial Uncle." Bai Shuishui received the order, bowed and went to make tea.
The Taoist priest reminded loudly: "Use the spring water from the back mountain—"
Hearing this, Bai Shuishui smiled. "I understand, Martial Uncle." This Martial Uncle liked drinking tea, especially when brewed with spring water from the back mountain.
After Bai Shuishui left, the abbot in the meditation room blew his mustache and glared at his junior brother. "If you want tea, then drink tea. Why ask for spring water?"
"Junior brother went out on behalf of the Taoist temple and can't even have a sip of tea when he comes back. It's not right, senior brother."
The abbot remained calm, but his words carried a hint of different meaning, "Times have changed." Now there is a mermaid living in the back mountain.
Having been told to fetch water by her Martial Uncle, Bai Shuishui took the water kettle and headed towards the back mountain as usual.
In the entire Taoist temple, except for the Martial Uncle who loved to drink tea brewed with spiritual spring water and sent disciples to come here to fetch water from time to time, rarely anyone else came by.
In Martial Uncle's two-year absence, the small path had become overgrown with wild vegetation.
The setting sun had completely disappeared behind the mountains, and the sky appeared an inky blue, with the night about to arrive.
There were no lights on the rear mountain, leaving Bai Shuishui struggling to see clearly.
Worried that it would be completely dark by the time she went down, Bai Shuishui quickened her pace.
【Host, Bai Shuishui is coming over.】
Qi Zhi, who had been meditating and regulating his breath, opened his eyes. Focusing his mind, he found Bai Shuishui approaching with a pitcher.
【Why is she coming here today?】
Rarely anyone came to the rear mountain, so Qi Zhi was slightly puzzled.
【A Taoist priest has returned from a travels, Bai Shuishui is fetching water to brew tea for him.】
Qi Zhi's eyes flickered with a strange look: "...Brew tea?"
This spiritual spring had become his bathing water.
Qi Zhi's merman tail had not yet transformed back into human form. He was about to grab his Taoist robe that he had thrown ashore, but Bai Shuishui had already entered his vision.
Why is this girl walking so fast?
Not having gotten his robe yet, Qi Zhi could only sink into the spring.
Fortunately, it was already dark, so Bai Shuishui didn't notice the merman inside the spring while scooping the water.
The surroundings were silent, occasionally interrupted by the hoarse cawing of crows, as if adding an ominous touch to the night.
Bai Shuishui suddenly felt a sense of dread. She cautiously looked around while muttering, "Infinite blessings from Tian Zun."
Hearing her speak, Qi Zhi almost thought he had been discovered. If he turned into a human form in the water at this moment, the fluctuations in spiritual power would surely be noticed by Bai Shuishui.
His fish tail submerged in the spring emitted a lustrous glow. Qi Zhi moved slightly, creating ripples across the surface.
"Why is there a Taoist robe here?" Bai Shuishui focused intently, her heart felt fuzzy as she kept feeling that there was something off about the back of the mountain.
Hearing her voice above, Qi Zhi helplessly and boredly swished his fish tail, inwardly grumbling about why Bai Shuishui hadn't left yet.
Bai Shuishui picked up the robe and looked at it, growing even more perplexed. She couldn't help but shout, "May I ask which senior brother is here?"
……
Bai Shuishui frowned as no one responded.
Bai Shuishui took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, scanning the area inch by inch. The tranquil water rippled gently, and occasionally one or two fireflies floating and flitting in the air.
Bai Shuishui snapped off a branch to use as a weapon. Her expression was somewhat solemn as she stared fixedly at the spring water.
Her intuition told her that there was something in the water.
"You little girl!" Qi Zhi cursed with a low laugh from the bottom of the water.
Qi Zhi emerged from the water, wiping the water off his face. A few droplets slid down his cheeks to his chest before merging back into the spring.
"It's me." Qi Zhi raised his brows, his expression elusive in the moonlight.
"Qi Zhi!" Seeing a familiar face, Bai Shuishui's furrowed brows relaxed before she scolded, "What are you doing here?"
"Soaking in the hot spring," Qi Zhi replied without changing his expression. Taking advantage of the dim light of the night, his fish tail swayed lazily in the water.
Bai Shuishui threw the Taoist robe on the shore, looked at the pitcher filled with Qi Zhi's bath water, and said angrily:
"This spring water is for drinking, not for you to bathe in."
After speaking, she poured the water back.
How could she give this to her Martial Uncle to drink?
Qi Zhi originally planned to swim over to get his robe, but Bai Shuishui suddenly leaned closer to the spring water. Under the bright light of the mobile phone flashlight, the beautiful and smooth scales could be seen glistening.
Fish scales?
Bai Shuishui thought her eyes were playing tricks. She stared fixedly at Qi Zhi, who was only a meter away from her.
"I say—" Qi Zhi raised his tone. "With you staring straight at me, how am I supposed to get out of the water?"
Bai Shuishui glanced at the time on her phone and squinted slightly. From the moment she arrived at the spring to fetch water until Qi Zhi surfaced, at least ten minutes had passed.
A normal person can hold their breath underwater for at most five or six minutes, yet Qi Zhi held his breath for at least ten minutes. How did he do that?
Sensing Qi Zhi's abnormality, Bai Shuishui was greatly alarmed.
The next second, she infused her spiritual energy into the wooden branch and jabbed it towards Qi Zhi with lightning speed.
Caught off guard by her sudden attack, Qi Zhi hastily retreated, his massive fish tail thrashing in the water.
His upper body still had the handsome face Bai Shuishui was familiar with, his muscular yet lean physique, defined abs, lean waist without an ounce of excess fat.
Bai Shuishui's gaze went down, landing on his beautiful, glistening fish tail.
Qi Zhi turned out to be a half-human, half-fish demon!
"Demon!" Bai Shuishui shouted sharply, quickly stood up and retreated.
Hearing this, Qi Zhi suddenly curved his lips into a smile. His handsome features took on a bewitching charm under the moonlight. His eyes shimmering alluringly enough to beguile hearts.
Qi Zhi's voice sounded like heavenly music, seeming to come from time immemorial: "I'm just an ordinary merman."
Bai Shuishui was momentarily entranced by his spellbinding voice as she stared at him.
But soon after, her gaze flickered as she regained her senses.
She gathered her spiritual power to her fingertips, began forming hand seals and was about to attack Qi Zhi again.
"Hey, hey, Bai Shuishui!" Qi Zhi hurriedly called for her to stop and swam back, "You're not being righteous, I didn't harm you."
I didn't harm you.
Upon hearing these words, Bai Shuishui remembered how this guy had been pestering her during the day. Her cheeks puffed up, and her hand seals became even faster.
In a flash, a surge of spiritual energy shot straight at Qi Zhi.
With a sneer, Qi Zhi waved his tail, dispersing her spiritual energy. "I'm practicing here with the permission of the abbot."
Qi Zhi brought up the abbot to pressure her.
Upon hearing this, Bai Shuishui indeed hesitated in her actions.
Her master, Taoist Master Zhengqing, was the abbot of Lingyun Taoist Temple and had profound attainments in the Dao. If this evildoer was practicing in the back mountain, how could it escape her master's notice?
Seeing her hesitation, Qi Zhi couldn't help but feel smug. With a swing of his fish tail, he happily swam a circle in the water, his beautiful mermaid curves looking bewitching and mystical under the moonlight.
"Empty words without proof," Bai Shuishui pursed her lips. She picked up the pitcher she had poured out and hurriedly ran down the mountain.
She needed to ask her master about this!
With a light tap of his fingers, Qi Zhi summoned the robe over. A flash of white light appeared as he transformed into human form and properly dressed himself.
Qi Zhi quickly appeared next to Bai Shuishui, leisurely opening his mouth, "Not taking the spring water anymore?"
Bai Shuishui stopped and glared at him angrily: "Since it has become your bath water. How can I use it to brew tea for Martial Uncle?"
"Huh." Qi Zhi let out an amused snort, his eyes rolling playfully as he teased her: "As the saying goes, one should see things through to the end and not abandon halfway."
"The spirit spring water is greatly beneficial for cultivation. How could it be dirtied just because this great lord cultivated in it for a few days?" Qi Zhi grumbled discontentedly.
"I'm perfectly clean from head to toe." I'm the prettiest cub of the mermaid clan, Bai Shuishui actually dared to despise me.
"Can you talk less?" Bai Shuishui spoke up, interrupting this chatterbox.
"If Shuishui tells me to shut up, I'll shut up." Qi Zhi winked at her, then made a zipping gesture over his lips to indicate he would stay quiet.
Seeing that he finally quieted down, Bai Shuishui's furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Seeing that the sky had turned completely dark, she was still thinking about making tea for her Martial Uncle.
In the end, Bai Shuishui returned to the Taoist temple and filled two bottles of purified drinking water into the pitcher.
*
In the quiet of the night, Bai Shuishui was still in the meditation room recounting what she saw at the rear mountain.
Qi Zhi pulled over a bamboo mat and casually sat cross-legged in the courtyard, gazing up at the night sky while occasionally letting out a whistle.
The intermittent whistling drifted into the meditation room, grating on Bai Shuishui's nerves just like Qi Zhi himself.
"May we have infinite blessings from Tianzun." The red sandalwood beads in the abbot's hand were spinning. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he chanted.
"Everything has a spirit. As a merman, Mr. Qi is devoted to the Tao and has never done anything harmful to the heavens or go against reason..."
Listening to her master's words, Bai Shuishui's expression darkened. This jerk had actually gotten her master's permission.
"Tsk tsk," Qi Zhi clicked his tongue outside. He had donated so much money to the temple, funding both renovations and supplies.
Wasn't that an immeasurable amount of merit?
After a while, Bai Shuishui came out of the meditation room. She gave the lounging Qi Zhi a cold look before walking straight past him.
Seeing her come out, Qi Zhi bounced up and leisurely adjusted his robe. "Shuishui—"
Here we go again.
Bai Shuishui inwardly grumbled. Where did such a talkative merman come from?
Since Bai Shuishui found out about his merman identity, Qi Zhi had become even more unrestrained. He leaned closer to Bai Shuishui, his gaze burning as he looked at her.
"No," Bai Shuishui paused. "And I don't want to know. Stop bothering me!"
Suddenly, Qi Zhi grabbed Bai Shuishui's arm and then smiled shyly, "Because you are Xu Xian, and I am the White Snake who descended to the mortal world to repay your kindness.'"
[T/N: This is from the famous Chinese folktale "The Legend of the White Snake" (白蛇传). It tells the story of a white snake spirit named Bai Suzhen, who falls in love with a mortal man named Xu Xian. The sentence you shared captures a moment where Bai Suzhen reveals her true identity to Xu Xian.]
Bai Shuishui looked at his hand grabbing hers, and her eyes narrowed slightly. "No, I am Fa Hai."
Hearing this, Qi Zhi looked displeased. "Fa Hai is a Buddhist monk, you are a Taoist."
Bai Shuishui: "......." So now you can distinguish between Taoist and Buddhist.
Seeing her speechless expression, Qi Zhi couldn't help but chuckle. His eyes and brows were tinged with a light smile, but his tone seemed nonchalant: "This great lord came for you."
After saying that, Qi Zhi seemed to feel that he hadn't provoked enough, so he foolishly imitated the mannerisms of a playboy, reaching out to touch Bai Shuishui's chin and teasing her.
No matter how good Bai Shuishui's temper was, it was all worn away by him. She wished she could transform into a fierce yaksha and violently beat up this narcissistic and annoying fish to a pulp!
Of course, Bai Shuishui did just that, "Evil creature, this Taoist will teach you a lesson now!"
Qi Zhi grabbed her incoming fist with one hand, and left a few words in her ear before swiftly running far away:
"When it comes to quenching my thirst, only the water from the spiritual spring (quán shuǐ) will do. But when it comes to the matters of heart, Bai Shuishui (plain water), my first love is none other than you."