Eventually, she asked a question that truly caught him off guard.

“Are you here to kill us?” she finally asked.

****

“Excuse me?” Long Di had no idea what she meant.

Him? Kill who?

“Are you here to kill us?” she asked once more. Her voice was like a heavenly zither. It echoed with a serene tone that would quell the stormiest seas.

Long Di loved the sound of her voice, but the question drove him to think for a while before he decided to answer her straightforwardly.

“No.”

Who would he kill? He wouldn’t kill for no reason… maybe.

“They don’t care about us a lot y’kno…” she said after a while before adding. “They don’t care about us mortals.”

“You’re a mortal?” Long Di was surprised to hear this. This woman didn’t have any spiritual qi that he could sense, but there was something about her that spoke otherwise.

Moreover, Long Di’s spiritual sense, which was bolstered by his spiritual force, was in the martial grandmaster realm.

This meant he could sense those near his realm if he really focused, but he sensed nothing from this woman. Sure, masters above his level could hide their cultivation level from him, but he would still be able to sense their spiritual breath and tell that they were cultivators, but it wasn’t the same for this woman. She gave off nothing. No breath or anything else that pointed to her being a cultivator.

Heck, even Uncle Tian Lu had a breath, as alcoholic as it was, that pointed to him being a hidden master. That and the way he acted. Long Di could smell it from a mile away.

Yet for this woman, he both had that feeling and didn’t have that feeling. It was a strange thing.

She kept her gaze straight before asking. “Is it so strange for one to be a mortal?”

“I don’t think so,” Long Di answered. “I don’t think there is anything strange about being a mortal or anything strange about being a cultivator.”

“I didn’t ask if there was anything strange about being a mortal. I asked if it was strange to be a mortal?” She repeated it once more, so the difference between the two questions could be heard more clearly.

“You mean, like having the choice…” he descended into thought to think about his answer. It was rare for Long Di to take anything serious that normal cultivators said in cultivation novels, since the idiots therein were running a marathon that they came in first place for everything while common sense was perpetually a runner-up.

He thought deeply about his answer and knew what to say if he were to speak from his own point of view, but he sought higher learning, so he didn’t wish to do that.

Eventually, he spoke. “From an objective point of view, it is strange to be a mortal when you can be otherwise, and it is strange to be otherwise when you can be a mortal. At the same time, it is not strange to be a mortal when you can be otherwise, and it is not strange to be otherwise when you can be a mortal.”

A smile made its way to her face upon hearing this. “Wise for your age, indeed. So it is both strange and not strange. Then is there none better than the other?”

Long Di paused for a while before he leaned back to stare at the sky and said. “Each has its own pros and cons, I guess. It depends on what drive you have individually that would compel you to choose either path.”

“Sometimes it isn’t a choice,” she said with a melancholic look.

“True..” Long Di agreed with this. Not everyone was lucky enough to be born with the power to choose. Destiny or fate would thrust upon them a future they would rather have no part in, but the power to deny is not theirs.

“What about you? Did you choose to be a mortal?” she finally asked him.

“A-Am I not otherwise?” Long Di was confused. Were they not talking about mortals and cultivators? He thought she was using otherwise to indicate the opposite of a mortal, which was, for all intents and purposes, a cultivator. Right?

“Are you?” she asked with a mysterious smile. “I know I am a mortal.”

“Wait… then who is ‘they,’ in this discussion?” Long Di remembered that earlier she said, ‘they’ don’t care for us mortals.

“Otherwise,” she answered with a smile.

“…”

Long Di was speechless for a while before he finally stated. “I am not otherwise.”

Her smile brightened upon hearing this, and it was like the sun made its way from beyond the clouds as the surroundings lit up as well.

“Why are you here?” Long Di wasn’t an idiot. He knew for a while now that this woman was no mere mortal. Maybe the thought was there for a while, but it became clear what the truth was.

“Stains,” she answered simply.

“Stains?” Long Di wasn’t expecting this. She was messing with him, wasn’t she?

“Stains in my clothes are quite a chore to deal with. So I prefer washing them myself before they really sink in and become permanent.” She said as she surveyed the clothes on the line.

After hearing this, Long Di kind of understood what was happening.

However, the subject from before still interested him. “Is ‘otherwise’ coming soon?”

She got up and walked forward to feel the clothes she hung earlier. Inspecting them to make sure there was no oversight on her part. She truly did seem like a mortal who was seriously washing her clothes.

“Well, you’re here. So chances are high. A little advice, though, try to temporarily sever your ill karma to ease your path.”

Long Di had a thought, “You mean-”

“Yes,” she said, aware that he should have gotten the message.

“Your intentions…” it seemed she had one final question. “Could you tell me about them?”

“First, to be emperor,” Long Di stated bluntly.

Rumble…

The woman’s expression changed, and she looked to the sky to see the clouds roiling with a faint roll of thunder but nothing else.

‘Interesting. No wonder you have such interest in him.’ she thought to herself.

“Secondly, I guess, I just want a better life. Live with my parents, eat good food, love and laugh… well, learn how to laugh. Heal scars and live on.”

“Mortal desires,” she smiled.

“Is it such a bad thing?”

“Well, for one who wants to be who you wish to be… it’s an odd thing, but not necessarily bad.”

Long Di nodded after hearing this. Maybe she was right. But these were his goals and wants and, as conflicting as they may be, they were his to pursue.

She went behind the sheets to inspect the others. Only her mud-layered feet were visible by now.

Her voice chimed once more. “A tragic child, surely. Truly, ‘choice’ is not given to everyone.”

An uncomfortable feeling arose in long Di’s heart. “What do you me-”

“Long Di!” Shen Ling’s voice rang out, causing Long Di to look over to see Shen Ling running towards him with the others in tow.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, relieved that she found him.

“I was just talking to this aunty who…”

His words trailed off into silence when he turned around to realise the woman was gone. So were the sheets and clothes she hung earlier, it was all gone. It was almost as if no one was ever here.

“What aunty are you talking about?” Shen Ling was a bit confused.

“I…” Long Di didn’t know what to say.

“How about we head over to Golden Lion Gate? If we hurry, maybe we can catch up to Sun Zixin.”

When long Di heard this, he quickly inspected the group and found Sun Zixin missing.

“He left already?” Long Di asked.

Sun Mei was a little unprepared for his reaction. “Y-Yeah… he left to try to get a head start but left me here since I know the way. What’s wro-”

Long Di got up and put his hands on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shove to lead them there fast.

Shen Ling, Xiannu Liang and Mina felt a bad premonition upon seeing this. Long Di wouldn’t act like this for no reason.

Sun Mei wasn’t aware of this and remained confused. “Why are y-”

However, the next words from Long Di’s mouth immediately caused dread to take residence within.

“Hopefully, he’s not dead yet.”

As they exited the abandoned place, Shen Ling took a look back and curiously saw an old line with a single sheet on it.

It was white, immaculately so. She looked a bit closer and thought she saw a small black stain on one of them. She only noticed it because the sheet itself was so white.

Yet, when she really peered in on it, it didn’t seem like a stain. It seemed like a part of its design.