Purest Love (Lan Zhan POV)

Damsel of Annual Blossoms

Around 5 am, I act as if I just woke up at this time. Taking a bath and getting dressed, I wake up a-yuan who is still soundly asleep. "Good morning dad," he says groggily. I give him a stern look which makes him sober up quickly. He walks towards his room shared with some of the disciples his age to get ready. I open a book and randomly go through it as I wait for the breakfast time. 

At 7 am, we all gather in the main hall for breakfast. "Wangji, you are here," brother said with his eyes bright. I nod to him "Good morning brother,". He tries to read me, but I keep my best in not showing what I am planning to do today.

Its been three years since I came out of my room. I was in a punishment for three years and then came out before 6 months, but I refused to come out of my room. Today, I just had a thought. If I can't get him to find me, then I should search for him shouldn't I. With that  thought I walked out of my room.

"Wangji, pay your respects to the elders. Its been a while since you did that," uncle said as he come to my side. Though it seems like he is requesting me to pay my respect as per the clan rule, I know what he means on the other side but I didn't mind.

"Good morning," I salute to all the elders who have gathered to talk to me as its been a while since they met me. They all salute back and I turn around facing my uncle. "I along with some disciples are going to nearby areas in search of any abnormalities. If we heard some we would like to handle it," thought I am requesting it, uncle knows if he doesn't allow me to do this, I will continue asking him till he allows. He nods accepting my request and I salute before taking off out of the main hall.

"What are you thinking, Wangji?" brother asks gently as he too joins me by my side. "Uncle is selecting suitable disciples to go with you," he adds and I nod my head at him. "Search for him," I answer him for the previous question. 

"Wangji..." he drags not knowing how to convince me otherwise. "Dad," I hear a-yuan yelling as he runs towards me. He is still too short for a nine year old so he takes his time as I wait for him. 

"You know you shouldn't call me that," I tell him as I squat down in front of him. He nods his head. "Train well. If I see improvement I will teach you how to play this," I say as I point at my zither. No idea why, but a-yuan loves zither. I pat his head slowly and tell him to run back to his friends. 

"He has nightmares sometimes. Take care of him brother," I inform my brother when the disciples of my age gather around me. They all introduce themselves and I nod and salute back to them. I take the lead and they follow without asking me questions. It is too silent. Nowadays I don't like silent, maybe because I was in silence for almost three years with nothing to do.

The people chatters start to slow down as they look at us, cultivators, with profound interest. Noticing how we are gaining attention, I turn towards the disciples. "Lets divide. Three in each group," turning around I left them to sort out by themselves.

I walk and walk and walk till I reach a place I have once heard of. Tanzhou. The place of Damsel of Annual Blossoms. I have heard Wei Ying bragging about this place. I enter in and recited a poem about yearning of love I wrote when I thought of Wei Ying. I wasn't hoping to see the spirit of this beauty, I just wanted to know how beautiful she is for him to be bragging about her for months.

I didn't expect Damsel to actually accept my poem. She smiles as she hands over a beautiful flower and I take it after a bow. She is beautiful as he bragged, with hazel eyes and long brown hair, with beautiful smile...she is beautiful. Maybe she is the type of person he likes.

"You seem to be in deep thought," she says with her gentle voice. The longer I stand here, I can't imagine her being angry at somebody to rain the with flowers and make them unconsious. I nod my head but didn't further elaborate. She smiles as she looks me up and down. 

"You are the first person I came out for after that brat angered me to death," she said as she gives me a smile. My lips curve upwards at the thought of the 'brat'. "He didn't only anger me by his rubbish poem but he also said that he have met a more beautiful person than me and they had a sword fight at a roof top," she says as she assess my expression. I tried to keep my face neutral but as she continued to explain how he complained about that said beautiful person breaking his wine pot and how he put the silencing charm on him, I couldn't help but smile more and more.

"So you are that beautiful person, I see. Well at least he didn't lie" she says as she laughs at my red ears. "I have heard some cultivators saying he is dead and how bad he was. It seems we are on the same boat on not believing this," she said making me look at her in surprise.

"I have lived for a long time. I have seen and heard many people. He may have changed bad, but not to the level of what people say I guess. People change due to circumstances and without knowing the circumstances I am in nowhere near to judge him," she says as she looks at the dark sky. 

"If you want someone to talk to, but don't want them to look at you or reply to you, feel free to use this place. I will be listening but I wouldn't give you a hint that I have been listening all along. That child, though he angered me, he is a pure soul with full of innocence. I have spoken enough," she says as she bids me her farewell. 

"Thank you for this," I tell her as I turn around to leave with the beautiful flower clutched in my hand.  As I look at the flower closely, I know now why she did give me this flower.