Bone Replacement - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A flicker of surprise crossed Eldest Madam’s face. “How do you know so much about the Divine Maiden? You speak as if you were one yourself.

“Enough. Since you are not the Divine Maiden, you will stay by my side. I will find more tutors to teach you the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.”

Yun Yanyan’s beautiful eyes widened in displeasure. “Why won’t you teach me singing and dancing? In my last life, you clearly taught me-”

Eldest Madam frowned. “What last life?”

Yun Yanyan’s expression turned ugly, and she shut her mouth.

Based on what I knew of her, she would definitely find a way to learn those vulgar arts unfit for polite society, then use every trick she had to catch Pei Cheng’s attention.

After I awakened as the Divine Maiden, the Yun Family soon brought the mysterious master who had taught Yun Yanyan in my previous life before me.

I stood frozen for a moment.

Staring at the figure before me, beautiful beyond anything mortal, I could not come back to myself.

In my previous life, Yun Yanyan’s courtyard had been treated like sacred ground. No one was allowed to set foot inside at will.

Even though I had lived not far from her, I had never once seen her master.

The master who taught her was actually this young. He wore layered white robes with wide sleeves, his tall figure standing as graceful as a crane. When his eyes fell on me, they were deep and unworldly.

I clutched my chest as a sudden pain seized me.

It felt like knives twisting through my heart.

Images I had never seen before flashed through my mind, too fast for me to grasp.

“Master…” I forced the two words out through the pain, my voice trembling.

Those snow-white robes came to a stop before me. A voice like the first thaw of ice and snow sounded beside my ear.

“So you finally remember?”

Those images dissolved into dust and smoke, and the pain in my chest subsided with them.

Only then did I realize I had been gripping his jade-cool wrist the entire time.

His expression was calm. He seemed not to care at all about the propriety between men and women and simply let me hold on.

I quickly released him.

He lowered his cold, clear eyes and looked straight at me. “I am Xuanji. From now on, I will be your master.

“You will cultivate under me.

“In this life, you must become a god.”

After taking him as my master, I had to enter the Heart-Calming Pool.

The pool’s water could purify and weaken a mortal’s seven emotions and six desires.

This was a necessary step for every Divine Maiden.

The heavier the desires in one’s heart, the more painful the water’s corrosion would feel.

This pool of water had been brought here by my master, Xuanji. In my previous life, Yun Yanyan had also undergone the Heart-Calming Pool’s cleansing.

I still had not forgotten her screams.

Back then, she had struggled to climb out of the water, crying so miserably that it tore at the heart. “Master, it hurts so much. If I keep soaking, I’ll die from the pain in here.”

As for Xuanji, he had seemed to say in a voice so faint it reached the bone, “Your mortal attachments are too strong. If you do not uproot your desires, you will certainly commit a grave mistake one day.”

In this life, it was my turn to enter the Heart-Calming Pool.

“Guiyu, remove your clothes and go in. I will keep watch outside.”

His clear, cool voice seemed to hold the faintest trace of gentleness compared to the previous life.

I raised both hands and began to undo my clothing.

Xuanji still showed no intention of leaving.

“Master… I need to undress.”

Xuanji gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Beauty is withered bone. Flesh and wine are but a mortal shell. In my eyes, there is no difference.

“Seeing through desire is the foundation of cultivation.”

Was this one of Master’s tests?

Gritting my teeth, I turned my back to Xuanji and pulled my clothing down to the very end.

The person behind me seemed not to exist at all. Only a cold, snowy chill lingered there. I could not even hear him breathe.

Just as I began to remove the skirt beneath, the curtain lifted, and Xuanji silently stepped out…

The instant my toes touched the Heart-Calming Pool, a wave of cold surged up.

I shuddered, then steeled myself and let the pool water swallow my body.

The pain of having the seven emotions and six desires stripped away was like being gnawed by tiny fish with mouths full of sharp teeth. It hurt a little, but it was nowhere near the agony Yun Yanyan had suffered.

When I had soaked until I was drowsy, Xuanji appeared at the edge of the pool.

He placed a white dress, identical to the one from my previous life, by the water’s edge and said without the slightest ripple in his voice, “From now on, wear this.”

After I changed into the dress, I found the fabric very soft. To my surprise, it fit perfectly.

It also covered me completely from head to toe. Loose and flowing, it made no deliberate attempt to outline my chest or waist.

Perhaps Yun Yanyan had disliked such stiff, ordinary clothing.

But I liked it very much.

In my last life, the clothes Eldest Madam gave me were full of hidden calculation. Every part of them was designed to emphasize my figure, as if she wished every gaze in the room would fall on me.

The way others looked at me, prying and appraising, constantly reminded me that I was nothing more than a pretty vase, a plaything the Yun Family had raised to please men.

If I had to choose, I would rather be the Divine Maiden who stood high above all, untouchable by anyone.

“I said I would guide you to godhood in this life.

“Rise at the hour of Mao tomorrow and learn the heart method from me.” Xuanji’s expression was as cold as his voice.

I nodded without objection.

At the hour of Mao, the sky had only just begun to brighten. The Morning Star still hung on the horizon amid the dark blue haze.

I was already up, following Xuanji to learn the heart method and copying the scriptures he gave me again and again.

The scriptures were long and awkward to read. By the time I finished, I was drowsy and dizzy.

From the other side of the wall came Yun Yanyan’s laughter.

“Hurry up and get my shuttlecock down for me.”

She was very free at Eldest Madam’s side, beside her birth mother.

Eldest Madam treated her nothing like the way she treated me, with such severity and criticism.

If I played a single wrong note on the zither, Eldest Madam would say coldly, “Guiyu, you disappoint me too much.”

In order to make me dance with the utmost lightness, Eldest Madam once ordered me in the dead of winter to remove my shoes and socks and dance on a thin, brittle sheet of ice so cold it pierced to the bone…