Chapter 13: The Elder, Master of the Five Spirits

“Sister Shadow Butterfly, do you know how my father first met Master Cen Song?” Chu Junhan still had her back to Shadow Butterfly.

Shadow Butterfly furrowed her brows and thought for a long while. “Miss was rescued by the Master six years ago, back when the warlords had not yet carved up the land and chaos reigned everywhere. I was just over ten years old then, so much of it has faded from my memory.”

Chu Junhan’s gaze grew dim. So even Shadow Butterfly didn’t know how her father came to know Cen Song.

“However, there is one thing I remember very clearly. The Master was being pursued by enemies while trying to save you, and he was chased deep into the mountains. I later heard from you that they encountered an old farmer that day. The Master and the old man talked through the night, sitting knee to knee. The next day, when the pursuers returned, the Master seemed like a different person. At every turn, his swordplay was unorthodox, and he toyed with the pursuers until they were utterly confounded.”

Chu Junhan stood up and excitedly shook the hem of Shadow Butterfly’s skirt. “Sister Shadow Butterfly, was that old man you spoke of Master Cen Song?”

“Miss never said so outright, but it was almost certainly him.”

Chu Junhan glanced at the timeline drawn on the ground. She remembered clearly that a year after the founding of the Tianqing Kingdom, her parents fell in love. It was then, under her father’s leadership, that Tianqing expanded its borders and quickly rose to become one of the great powers.

“My father despises those who sow discord, yet today, when Cen Song spoke those words, he merely rebuked him without taking any real action. No wonder it was so.” As she spoke, Chu Junhan placed a hand under her chin, striking a pose far beyond her years.

Shadow Butterfly watched her young mistress in a daze. Was this still the same gentle, ethereal girl she once knew?

“Little Miss, the cold is biting. Don’t catch a chill. Let’s hurry back!” Shadow Butterfly looked with concern at Chu Junhan’s flushed cheeks.

Chu Junhan replied, then lifted her tiny foot to wipe away the words written in the snow. “From now on, call me Young Master.”

“Huh?” Shadow Butterfly was taken aback, but upon seeing the clothing on the child before her, she nodded solemnly. “As you wish, Young Master.”

“Let’s go! We mustn’t make Mother worry.”

“Mm, mm!” Shadow Butterfly scampered after Chu Junhan. Perhaps she didn’t even realize that, at some point, she had grown accustomed to Chu Junhan’s adult-like commands.

Shadow Butterfly was once redeemed by the master of the Xi family. After his passing and the Xi family’s decline, it was the young miss who took her in, wandering from place to place, surviving by hunting.

She and Xi Feng had lived lives where every day was a dance on the knife’s edge. In this world, only Xi Feng could truly command her—no one else, not even Chu Xiong.

But there are always exceptions. Ever since her little miss woke from that incident, she seemed to have become a different person, exuding an aura of command that made Shadow Butterfly instinctively follow her lead.

If she obeyed Xi Feng out of unrepayable gratitude, then her obedience to the little miss was not only because she was her daughter, but also because there was something in her eyes that no one else possessed.

What was it? Was it ambition?

“Why is there always such burning ambition in the little miss’s eyes?” Shadow Butterfly still harbored doubts, standing there watching the child’s receding figure.

She remembered that after the reins had strangled her little miss’s neck that day, something had changed in her completely upon waking. Had the lady noticed her daughter’s transformation?

“Sister Shadow Butterfly, hurry up!” Chu Junhan noticed that Shadow Butterfly was standing lost in thought not far away. She stretched out her chubby little hand and waved at her, urging her to catch up.

Hearing the childish voice, Shadow Butterfly looked in its direction. Her little miss was still an innocent, guileless child.

“Coming!” Shadow Butterfly quickly ran over, took Chu Junhan’s hand, and led her toward the camp. Perhaps she really was overthinking it—her little miss had always been so sensible.