Chapter 58: Heartbeat Part 1

“Elder Shen, my mother seems to have something for me.”

As soon as Shen Yanting arrived, Feng Jin immediately found an excuse to slip away.

After she finished speaking, she shuffled along the wall to the door and stepped out from Shen Yanting’s side. She vanished from sight the moment she got outside.

Shen Yanting did not stop Feng Jin. After she left, Shen Yanting closed the door again and sat down indifferently across from Bo Xuenong. She called out casually, “Xuenong.”

There was no inflection in that “Xuenong.”

The flat, emotionless voice reminded Bo Xuenong of their time back at the Imperial Serenity Sect.

Bo Xuenong suddenly felt restless. The chair beneath her grew inexplicably hot.

She stood up and positioned herself respectfully at Shen Yanting’s side. “Master.”

Shen Yanting tilted her head up slightly, waiting for her next words.

Seeing Shen Yanting tilt her head, Bo Xuenong instinctively crouched down. She pressed close to Shen Yanting’s leg, looking up at her and waiting for her to lower her gaze. Only then did that strange feeling completely fade. She truly preferred when Shen Yanting looked down at her.

Bo Xuenong could not help leaning closer to Shen Yanting’s leg. Shen Yanting reached out helplessly and stroked Bo Xuenong’s head, which was already pressed against her and still inching nearer.

She cradled Bo Xuenong’s head and let her rest it on her lap.

This obvious indulgence stirred ripples across the already unsettled lake of Bo Xuenong’s heart.

They were so close that Bo Xuenong could draw every strand of the cold fragrance wafting from her master into her nose.

The unstoppable smile fell into Shen Yanting’s eyes. Her tense expression softened slightly. She asked again, “Who do you intend to die for?”

Bo Xuenong did not notice the depth of Shen Yanting’s concern over those words, nor did she see the nails digging into her palm as she spoke.

She looked up and offered what she thought would be a satisfactory answer. “Master said she doesn’t want Xuenong to die, so Xuenong won’t die.”

Bo Xuenong skirted around the word “suicide.”

The answer was not ideal, but neither was it terrible.

Shen Yanting relaxed her clenched fingers.

Bo Xuenong could not guess Shen Yanting’s thoughts. She could only press closer, ever closer, hoping to glimpse some hint of her master’s emotions in those eyes.

Shen Yanting extended her index finger and tapped the forehead of the restless person on her lap. A low murmur escaped her lips. “Don’t move anymore.”

Bo Xuenong shrank back her neck and obediently settled into place. “Okay.”

She was always obedient.

Shen Yanting’s heart softened a little, and her voice grew gentler. “Good. Now, we need to discuss something more important.”

Bo Xuenong’s eyelashes trembled. She stared at Shen Yanting without blinking. “Master, what is it?”

Shen Yanting withdrew the finger pressed to her forehead and curled it slightly. “Why did you deliberately avoid mentioning the Bo Clan in the carriage?”

A crack appeared in Bo Xuenong’s smile. “Ma… Master.”

Ever since Shen Yanting had arranged the rooms, her mind had been filled with the fact that Shen Yanting would no longer share hers. She had forgotten the unease that had risen in the carriage.

Shen Yanting had come to settle accounts with her.

To call her out for pretending ignorance despite knowing about her bloodline.

“Master, I…”

Bo Xuenong’s words started but trailed off. Her eyelashes, like those of a black feather crow, fluttered, and fine droplets clung to them. She was begging for Shen Yanting’s mercy.

The mist instantly beading on her lashes made Bo Xuenong look all the more pitiable. Paired with that soft, easy-to-bully face, it almost seemed as if Shen Yanting had done something wrong. Shen Yanting had overheard Bo Xuenong’s conversation with Ye Zhiyao outside the carriage from within.

She was indeed relieved that Bo Xuenong was no longer faking smiles, but she also had a headache over Bo Xuenong learning to fake cry.

Shen Yanting averted her gaze from Bo Xuenong’s eyes, avoiding those damp pupils. “Cai Yan has said several times that the Ghost Moon Vine Bloodline is second only to the Divine Beast Bloodline. Are you going to tell me you didn’t hear?”

Shen Yanting had seen through her, after all.

Was Master angry?

Bo Xuenong pressed her palms against Shen Yanting’s leg and half-rose, meeting Shen Yanting’s gaze once more.

Shen Yanting’s deep eyes held a unique clarity, bright enough to pierce all darkness and murkiness, as if it could expose every lie she told.

Bo Xuenong’s gaze grew even more pitiful. She knelt against Shen Yanting’s leg, still resting on it, but her demeanor weaker than before. “Master.”

Shen Yanting did not spare her a glance.

She needed an answer.

Bo Xuenong could not say she had learned the plot of the Original Book from the System, nor that she knew her bloodline identity from the Otherworld Soul. After a moment’s thought, she offered a reasonably plausible lie. “Master, I… I… After breaking through to nascent soul, I awakened bloodline memory. I know I’m a Bo Clansman.”

Inherited bloodlines did have precedents of awakening memories, though they often signified the activation of some bloodline ability.

Bo Xuenong did not seem to have awakened any bloodline power.

Shen Yanting pondered silently. Before she could reach a conclusion, a faint itch appeared on the back of her hand.

She looked down. At some point, Bo Xuenong had summoned her furry ears and tail. The soft ears rubbed gently against the back of her hand. The long tail looped from behind, binding Bo Xuenong’s waist to her calf. The tickle of fine, soft fur brushing her skin trailed straight to her heart.

Shen Yanting’s memories flashed back to that one indulgent, boundary-crossing night.

Her ear tips quietly reddened. She reached out to push away Bo Xuenong’s ear.

As soon as Shen Yanting’s hand drew near, Bo Xuenong pressed her ear into her palm, rubbing lightly against it in clear entreaty.

At that moment, Bo Xuenong resembled a demon pet awaiting its master’s petting—obedient, fragile, deploying every trick to act spoiled.

Shen Yanting had once resisted thinking of Bo Xuenong this way. In her eyes, she had always been a person first, and an inheritor of ferocious beast bloodline second. Now that had changed. It was hard to face the furry ears in her palm and the furry tail around her leg while insisting Bo Xuenong was human.

She was a little beast.

Not very ferocious, very obedient little beast.

Shen Yanting stroked Bo Xuenong’s ears, her gaze softening considerably.

She had never much liked demonic beasts before, especially Si Xianling’s bizarre tamed beasts. Now, she thought a sufficiently obedient little beast was rather nice.

Shen Yanting was not truly angry. She was just worried.

Lately, Bo Xuenong’s lies to her had multiplied. Her bond with Feng Jin had grown closer, fostering little secrets just between the martial sisters. It should have been a happy thing, but Shen Yanting felt something slipping out of control—especially after realizing Bo Xuenong had long known her own bloodline. A hint of fear crept in.

Shen Yanting could not guess that Bo Xuenong feigned ignorance of her bloodline to preserve their current intimacy, occasionally boundary-pushing master-disciple bond. Instinctively, she wondered if Bo Xuenong had recalled the events of that year too, hiding to bide her time for revenge one day.

She had killed Bo Xuenong’s fellow clansmen.

More than one.

Some might even have been her direct kin. The thought brought a faint ache every time.

Not regret for slaying ferocious beasts, but fear that Bo Xuenong hated her.

Shen Yanting had wanted to ask outright, but she seemed to lack the courage.

What if Bo Xuenong had only remembered her bloodline and not the past? Speaking it out would invite needless trouble.

Shen Yanting also feared a careless word would shatter their seemingly close master-disciple relationship.

Shen Yanting’s brow furrowed tightly. She chose her words carefully. “Xuenong, besides your bloodline, what else do you remember?”

Bo Xuenong could not guess what Shen Yanting wanted to hear. To her, this felt like an interrogation, and with so many secrets, she naturally felt guilty.

She lowered her gaze slightly. In her panic, tears rolled down her lashes.

The warm droplets falling onto her hand burned somewhat.

Shen Yanting instinctively wanted to comfort Bo Xuenong but swallowed the words.

Bo Xuenong dug her nails into her palm before speaking. “Master, I… I also remember that our branch of the bloodline is very powerful.”

She bit her lip, her hesitant voice suddenly firm. “Master, I’ll truly grow stronger and stronger! From now on, I’ll protect you!”

Bo Xuenong was declaring she would qualify to be her blade.

It felt more like a promise from Bo Xuenong. Shen Yanting saw no hatred in those eyes, only intense dependence and resolve.

Shen Yanting fell silent for a moment.

She was fine when speaking, but silence panicked Bo Xuenong further.

Bo Xuenong bit her lip hard and circled back to the topic she least wanted to touch. “Master, I also remember I have ferocious beast bloodline. My bloodline is murderous and bloodthirsty, loves eating people and swallowing demonic creatures, but… but that’s just my bloodline. I won’t be controlled by it. I… I might have weaker self-control than others, but I guarantee that whatever Master says, I’ll obey every word. If Master says not to kill someone, even if they want to kill me, I won’t touch them. I…”

Bo Xuenong’s voice stopped. Her eyes filled with loss and pain.

Now that her bloodline secret was exposed, she could not help worrying Shen Yanting would push their relationship to cold distance, laying bare the surveillance motive.

Bo Xuenong did not mind Shen Yanting monitoring her under orders, but she minded being treated solely as a task.

She could be a demon pet, a disciple, a blade… just not only a task.

Bo Xuenong simply wanted an identity more important than a task.

Someone inseparable from Shen Yanting could not accept an identity that could be discarded at any time.