Chapter Seventeen: Heart Racing

  (This is the chapter I am most satisfied with and like the most so far.)

  Fan Xian walked towards the side hall with his head down, but the corner of his eye fell on the Tian Tan in the main hall. He was very curious who was praying there and could actually drive away that middle-aged master. He knew that the other party's background must be unfathomable, and he just wanted to come to Qing Temple to take a look, so it wasn't necessary to fight for this idle air, although his name was Fan Xian.

  His right hand was still covering his mouth, and he coughed up two sounds from time to time. However, after circulating the true energy in his abdomen earlier, he confirmed that his body had not suffered any substantial damage, but when the energy rebounded, it shattered the fragile membrane in his throat, rather than damaging his lungs or trachea.

  He walked and coughed, looking at the white handkerchief with bloodstains, thinking of Lin Daiyu, Su Mengzhen, Zhou Yu, and many predecessors on the coughing platform - cough, forget about Lin Qinnan, not as tragic as the first three.

  As he walked to the side hall, his true energy had already healed that small wound by about 70-80%, and Fan Xian reluctantly put away the handkerchief, looked back at the Temple of Heaven for a moment, and then entered the side hall.

  The side hall was a slightly smaller temple, surrounded by a square of green stone walls, and there was no one inside. Fan Xian found that he did not see the legendary ascetic monk, and felt a little disappointed. He walked into the hall casually, and was even more disappointed to find that this temple did not have the statues of gods commonly seen in previous lives.

  But thinking again, it's normal too. Since what is provided is heaven, no one knows what this heaven looks like.

  In the center of the temple, a large incense table was placed. The incense table was extremely wide and had light yellow silk hanging down from it, all the way to the ground, covering the bluestone pavement below.

  On the incense table, a delicate ceramic incense burner was placed, with three sticks of incense inserted, which had already burned halfway, filling the entire room with that soothing and refreshing fragrance.

  Fan Xian strolled casually in the hall, his eyes scanning over the colorful paintings on the walls. He found that the style of these murals was very similar to oil painting in later generations, but the gods and goddesses depicted in the paintings, whether standing on mountain peaks, floating on the surface of the sea, or sitting quietly on volcanoes, did not have clear faces, slightly vague and deformed, as if it was intentional arrangement by the painter.

  After taking a look, he found that these murals only told the ancient myths mentioned in the scriptures, including the story of Da Yu controlling the flood, and some other things. However, no matter how Fan Xian looked at them, they just didn't match up with the scriptures.

  He shook his head, giving up the idea of finding some answers from here, found a futon beside the temple, threw it in front of the incense case, ran down, joined his palms together, closed his eyes facing the faintly rising blue smoke in the incense burner, his lips moved slightly, praying incessantly.

  In his past life, Fan Xian was naturally an atheist. In this life, however, he is a firm believer in the existence of gods. This transformation occurred quite naturally; anyone who experienced such strange events would likely undergo similar psychological changes.

  So he knelt down and prayed devoutly, hoping that the vague heaven and the traceless temple could explain why he came to this world. At the same time, he more devoutly begged heaven to give him a lot of silver and a very peaceful life.

  ……

  ……

  Suddenly, a faint wisp of smoke seemed to take shape and then dissipate, causing Fan Xian's ears to twitch slightly as if he had heard something. He opened his eyes hesitantly, staring at the small ceramic incense burner on the altar which was trembling slightly, and was utterly shocked - could it be that his seemingly devout yet actually distracted prayer had really been detected by Heaven?

  His gaze stayed on the wide incense case, and Fan Xian finally found the problem. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he pressed the hidden dagger in his boot with his left hand, slowly but firmly stretching out his right hand to pull open the hanging silk under the incense case.

  ———————————————————————————

  When the curtain was opened, what fell into Fan Xian's eyes was a scene that shocked him.

  A girl wearing a white right-buttoned dress was half squatting at the corner of the incense case, staring at Fan Xian in surprise.

  The girl's eyes are very big, with soft and gentle eye waves, like a quiet and peaceful lake surface that makes people want to sleep forever. Her facial features are extremely delicate and beautiful, with light pink skin, long eyelashes, looking as if she walked out of a painting.

  Fan Xian was taken aback, his gaze lingering on the girl's face. He gradually noticed that her forehead was a bit large, her nose a bit pointed, and her skin tone a bit too pale. Her lips seemed thicker than those of ordinary beauties. There were many imperfections, but when combined with her slightly timid expression and a natural air of shyness, they still stirred Fan Xian's heart.

  His heart skipped a beat.

  The girl curiously looked at the young man who was devoutly worshiping the sky, and found that his face was surprisingly beautiful, elegant and refined, unlike an ordinary person, even his eyelashes were so long, she couldn't help but stare at him for a few more glances.

  After watching, the girl felt inappropriate, a faint red color quickly brushed across her cheeks, and then quickly dispersed, even her ears turned red.

  But she couldn't bear to move her gaze away, wondering in her heart who this young man outside was, and how he could be so handsome.

  ……

  ……

  In the corner of the temple, the temple was quiet, Fan Xian's hand still held that piece of gauze, his eyes still fixed on the girl's face, and the girl also plucked up the courage to look at him, just like this, they stared at each other, not knowing how long it had been, still in silence.

  Fan Xian's gaze gently swept across the girl's face, and the girl finally couldn't help but blush, slowly lowering her head. Fan Xian's gaze finally fell on the girl's lips, only to discover that her lip gloss was unusually shiny.

  He looked at her curiously again, and only then did he discover the reason why he had been preoccupied with this matter for a long time - the girl was pinching an oily chicken leg in her hand, and the oil on her lips was obviously stained when she gnawed the chicken leg.

  Such a beautiful and elegant woman in white, was actually hiding under the incense table of the solemn Qingmiao Temple to secretly eat chicken legs! This strong contrast left Fan Xian's mouth agape, unable to speak for half a day.

  After a long time, there was finally a sound inside and outside the quiet, awkward, subtle incense case.

  "Who... who... are you."

  The pretty boy and girl spoke at the same time, even their slightly trembling voices were extremely similar.

  Fan Xian heard the girl's voice for the first time, and felt that it was soft and gentle, but lacked strength. The feeling was very comfortable, yet made him feel ungrounded. His chest suddenly tightened, and he actually spat out a mouthful of blood.

  "Ah!" The girl saw him spit blood, startled, but not because of fear. Her eyes naturally revealed an extremely strong color of pity, as if Fan Xian's suffering was painful to her heart.

  Fan Xian looked at her worrying about herself, his heart felt a warmth, and he smiled reassuringly: "It's okay, vomiting will become a habit after a while."