Mu Li

Walking on the street, Lin Shao stretched his arms wide, hummed a few comfortable notes, and reached into his robes to pat the dark red silk pouch containing the silver.

A wave of satisfaction washed over him.

When he first decided to sell poems using the name of the Yuanshi Immortal Venerable, he thought he would encounter many difficulties and had prepared various countermeasures, but in the end, not a single one was needed.

Things had gone far more smoothly than imagined.

As expected, it is only the beginning that is difficult; people often scare themselves into being unable to take the first step.

Eager to share the good news with Mu Li, Lin Shao hurried back to the inn.

He instructed the waiter to bring up lunch, then quickly walked to the second floor.

Standing before the room door, he quieted down and took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, wondering how to break the news to Mu Li.

‘Maybe I should pretend I failed, and then tell her the truth at the last second to give her a surprise.’

Having decided this, he gently pushed open the door, walked in slowly, and then held his breath.

He felt as if he were looking at a painting.

The scene consisted of the cheap inn’s wooden bed and white bed curtains.

To the left was a mirror and a wooden bucket filled with water; to the right was an open window and two potted green plants.

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating half the room.

This was an ordinary scene of daily life, yet it became unique because of the presence of a young girl.

In the center of the room sat a simple, foldable table.

Behind the table sat a girl with silver hair reaching her waist.

Her skin was as white as snow and appeared incredibly delicate; she had a high bridge to her nose and thin lips.

However, her eyes were covered by a thick layer of gauze.

Her back was straight and her posture upright as her right hand held a brush vertically, writing steadily on the rice paper spread across the table.

On the wooden table sat a parrot; it was large with messy feathers.

Its feet gripped the edge of the table, and its head was tilted as its gaze followed the tip of the brush.

Quiet, natural, and seemingly at one with her surroundings.

Lin Shao stood still, unwilling to move an inch, as if any small noise would shatter this perfect picture.

After about ten seconds, the girl stopped.

On the rice paper, the characters for “The lone smoke in the desert rises straight, the setting sun over the long river is round” appeared in large, bold strokes.

The handwriting was intertwined and rhythmic, truly expressing a lonely, magnificent, and grand atmosphere.

“Welcome back.”

The girl washed her brush in a small basin beside her; her voice was very soft yet ethereal.

“I’m back.”

Lin Shao’s restless heart had completely calmed down after witnessing the previous scene.

He walked to Mu Li’s side and looked down at the calligraphy she had just practiced.

“You wrote this beautifully.”

He praised her sincerely.

Mu Li gently wiped the cleaned brush with a soft cloth, smoothed the bristles, and placed it on the brush rack to dry naturally.

Only after finishing all this did she speak. Her voice remained very light, without much emotional fluctuation.

“Do you even understand calligraphy, or are you just praising me blindly?”

Lin Shao sat naturally beside Mu Li, pulled the rice paper closer, and smiled.

“I don’t understand it, but even someone who doesn’t know calligraphy can see that you wrote this well.”

“You seem very happy.”

Mu Li replied, though it was unclear if she was referring to herself or Lin Shao.

After a pause, she asked, “How much did those three poems sell for?”

Lin Shao wanted to tease Mu Li, so he immediately put on a pitiful, aggrieved expression.

He sighed. “Sigh, you should ask if I even managed to sell them first before I can answer you.”

He expected Mu Li to nervously ask, ‘Did you fail to sell them?’

At that point, he could puff out his chest and laugh, saying, ‘My involvement always guarantees success; not only did they sell, but I earned two hundred million taels!’

To his surprise, Mu Li showed no nervous reaction at all.

As she waited for the ink to dry, she organized the rice paper and said unhurriedly, “Is there even a need to ask? It was definitely a success.”

After organizing, she folded the simple table and leaned it against the bed.

Beside the bed were several large and small bags already packed.

Lin Shao pointed at the packed luggage and asked, “Did you pack all of these?”

Mu Li nodded. She stood up and stretched her limbs, her slightly form-fitting clothes outlining her tempting figure.

Before Lin Shao could ask further, she answered.

“We are moving to a new place tonight, so I packed the items in advance.”

“Put them into your spatial artifact later—the thing you use to hold the silver.”

Lin Shao blinked. “I haven’t said a word yet, but you know everything? You even know about the shop on the antique street?”

Mu Li removed the gauze covering her eyes.

Her eyelashes and pupils were silver-white, but the pupils were slightly gray and lacked the spark of life.

Seeing Mu Li’s eyes, Lin Shao suddenly remembered.

Mu Li was born with a supernatural ability; she could calculate the “Past Aspect” and “Future Aspect” of others.

The Past Aspect represents a person’s history; the Future Aspect represents their destiny.

The Past Aspect consists of things that have already happened and are fixed.

Therefore, the ability to see the Past Aspect is not particularly rare in the Great Thousand World.

Many skilled fortune-tellers can calculate a person’s Past Aspect as long as they have enough information.

The Future Aspect consists of things to come, which are mostly variables.

The gap between calculating constants and variables is wider than the distance between the earth and the sky.

Therefore, many masters who can calculate the Past Aspect are powerless regarding the Future Aspect.

Over the thousands of years, very few people have appeared who can calculate the Future Aspect.

Mu Li was born with the ability to calculate both for others.

Just by looking at someone’s face, she could roughly calculate their past and future.

However, this was not a blessing.

The Future Aspect is a variable, and for some people, it involves “Heavenly Secrets.”

Calculating such a future is equivalent to peeking at the secrets of Heaven.

Mu Li had once looked at the Future Aspect of a certain person, but that person’s future involved too much.

She was judged to have peeked at Heavenly Secrets and suffered a heavenly punishment; her eyes gradually went blind.

“Were you calculating my Future Aspect?”

Lin Shao frowned, his tone slightly rebuking.

“Didn’t I tell you not to calculate recklessly? What if you peek at Heavenly Secrets again and suffer another punishment?”

Mu Li answered indifferently, “Don’t worry, it won’t happen.”

“Also, keep the silver you earned for yourself. Don’t think about treating my eyes; they can’t be cured. Don’t waste your energy.”

“No, I must cure you!”

Lin Shao did not back down in the slightest.

“Tomorrow we will go find the best doctor in the capital and see if he has a way.”

Mu Li shook her head. “It’s useless. I calculated it.”

“Then we will find the Green-Robed Divine Doctor. She is the eldest disciple of the Yuanshi Immortal Venerable and the world-recognized divine doctor. She can definitely cure you.”

Mu Li found it slightly amusing.

“The Green-Robed Divine Doctor is elusive; even her fellow sisters can’t contact her. How could you possibly find her just because you say so?”

“If I can’t find her in a year, I’ll search for two. If two aren’t enough, then five, ten, or twenty years. I will find her eventually.”

Lin Shao was very serious.

Back when the snow was flying, he had opened his eyes in the body of a recently deceased corpse on the roadside.

He was thinly dressed, starving, freezing, and plagued by illness.

At the critical moment, Mu Li appeared and saved his life.

She shared her clothes, gave him food, and looked after him for an entire winter.

After he recovered, Mu Li taught him knowledge and the laws of survival in this world.

She even passed the cultivation technique [Nine Songs] to him, leading him onto the path of cultivation.

To Lin Shao, Mu Li was his lifesaver and a mentor as well as a friend.

Therefore, since Mu Li had gone completely blind, curing her had become Lin Shao’s greatest wish.

It was a goal he would never give up on, no matter how difficult.

Hearing Lin Shao’s firm determination, Mu Li fell silent for a moment and sighed.

“Let’s eat.”

Just as she spoke, there was a knock on the door. It was the inn waiter bringing up lunch.