After the evening sessions, both Li Mei and goddess Sun Shi were sent to rest at their respective residence, which originally belonged to Qin Ru back then. Two beds with new bed spreads had been made for them. Li Mei couldn't be more happier than becoming room mates with goddess Sun Shi.
She chose the bed closer to the window while Sun Shi chose the other. Then Li Mei climbed up to her bed right away as she was all exhausted. Not physically but mentally. She sprawled herself on her bed like a frog ,with a sigh of relief.
Sun Shi sat on her bed and trailed her fingers over the bedspread deep in thoughts. She had all the riches at the Ethereal palace,but here sitting on a bed poor in condition. So did Li Mei. But Sun Shi was bearing all these pain as she had other intentions ,that was to keep an eye on Li Mei and her beloved.
So far, nothing suspicious had happened, yet she still doubted. She remembered once when she went to true god Lu Yan's pilgrimage hall,she herself found out a poorly drawn potrait of his ,which was drawn by Qin Ru. She suspected that he would never keep something like that unless he adored her. Sun Shi was not pleased about it.
It was like rubbing salt into the wound ,seeing Qin Ru having a special place in his heart. Though she was no longer,her, though the things were different, Sun Shi was in a dilemma whether to trust him or not.
Sun Shi looked at her, who was sprawled in her bed. Then she talked to her.
"Are you asleep?" She asked in a friendly tone.
"No, I am not. I am just tired." Saying that ,Li Mei turned her head to her side.
"Yes, it's a pretty exhausting day, isn't it?" She pushed her to talk.
"Hm..." Came the answer from Mei.
Then some silence and another question from Sun Shi.
"Do you like in here?"
"I don't know. I like Jing Ling. I like the surroundings,but I don't know. May be or may be not."
She just sleepily said.
"Then what about him... true god Lu Yan?"
The cat jumped out of the sack.
Li Mei's sleepiness went away with the sudden question.
"Him??? Don't talk about him. I can like anybody but him. " She sat on her bed and said.
"Why is that?" Sun Shi reasoned out.
"He angers me, and he bullies me," Mei replied in agitation.
"He does ,isn't he?" She fed fire to it.
"Yeah, of course he does. But one day I will teach him a lesson." The clumsy little goddess said in a firm voice.
Someone who was not far away was having a burning sensation in his nose.
Sun Shi was at ease after this conversation.
"Maybe I worried for nothing." She thought to herself.
The next morning,very early morning, their training session began even before the sunrise. Sun Shi had to put a lot of effort into waking Li Mei up.Though she somehow managed to do so, Li Mei couldn't perform any of the yoga pauses as directed by master Lu Yan. She knew the consequences.
While Sun Shi attended the class, Mei had to stood up in the Eastern deck. But she was not in to take it to her heart. She leaned herself against the wall of the Mount hut, throwing pebbles at peaches. She loved it here than at her desk.
Every time Jing Ling looked at her ,he bursted in to a laugh.
"Hey, Jing Ling," She uttered playfully when she saw him.
"It's another punishment, right?" He asked, mocking her.
"Yeah, but who cares?" She lightly said.
"You do not know his temper. I can say you only that much, " Jing Ling said in concern .
They didn't know master Lu Yan was right behind them.
"Jing Ling, it seems you don't have any other work than chit chatting," He said with a frown.
With that chance, Li Mei straightened up her posture, not wanting to be blamed by him.
Lu Yan gave her a knowing look before leaving the deck.
There after, there was no peace at mount lookout. Every day, Jing Ling could hear the master's annoyed voice in different tones.
"Li Mei"
"Liii Mei//"
"LI MEI"
That was her way of teaching her master a good lesson. She swore she would
"There she goes again." That was Jing Ling wearing a mischievous smile at the back yard of the Mount lookout.
"Ever since she came here, mount lookout had been merrier than never. Such was her."
There was no end to her tantrums. Either she purposely misread the ancient rules, making fun of them or made Lu Yan exhausted by misspelling words, which resulted having more punishments.
Earlier, Lu Yan gave simple punishments, having more patience with her. It was either sweeping the deck, wiping the wooden floor of the deck, or kneeling down. But one day, she crossed the line.
That day, Li Mei eagerly attended the class unlike the other days. Sun Shi didn't have to beseech her to wake up. Mei herself woke up and plodded towards the study tables.
She attentively did listen to the lesson. Sun Shi knew Mei had something cooking up in her head.
She wondered what it was and didn't hear Lu Yan raising a question.
"Goddess Sun Shi "
She startled and looked at Lu Yan with a trembling heart.
"I hope you haven't caught her disease."
He asked her in an emphasising tone.
At the end of the session, Lu Yan assigned them a task and went back to his own studies.
Suddenly, a wicked smile was drawn on Li Mei's face. She barely managed to suppress her smile.
Lu Yan was turning the pages of the book just to find a drawing of a woman and a man looking at each others from the opposite directions and in the next moment magically they came closer to each other and kissed.
His eyes widened. His facial muscles danced.
That was called the live image spell. The point was one has to draw a picture using non erasable ink and cast the spell ,chanting the words. This was something she learnt from Goddess Yan Ki. When Mei was young, she used to cast the live image spell when relating stories.
Lu Yan was in shock. He was furious to see someone had taken him for a laughing stock. He exactly knew who it was. He looked at her with piercing eyes.
"Li Mei," He addressed her with gritted teeth.
Mei lifted her face and looked at him with innocent eyes, acting she did not know anything.
"Now drop the act. I know you did this. " He said in between while giving her a deathly glare.
He showed what she had done to the invaluable script. The couple was still kissing.
Jing Ling, who was at the mid deck sweeping the wooden floor, looked at them, alarmed with master's furious voice.
He couldn't believe his eyes at first. Next, the guilt was what marked on his face.
Li Mei, who couldn't take his gaze, stood up and raised a question herself.
" Master Lu Yan, how can you possibly say I did this?"
For that, he gave her an unforgivable look.
"I know you did this. Only you"
He said in a firm voice.
" Copy this script 10 times or else." He paused for a second.
He is a true god, and he could easily uncast the spell. He didn't want to go that far of severely punishing her. But her gut was what made him appear to be more fierce.
"Or else what master. I refused to do it. Unless you prove that I did that, I won't take your punishment."
She said in an undaunted manner.
Both Sun Shi and Jing Ling knew she was doomed at this point.
"Okay then," Lu Yan gave her another deathly glare and composed himself.
Next, he slightly closed his hazel eyes and opened them wide. Everyone knew what was happening there except Li Mei.
Then he turned back at her and continued
"Yesterday at the back of the Mount hut, you had this little conversation with Jing Ling..... "
-The undercover story -
"Sister"
Sun Shi herself has given the consent to Li Mei to address her sister.
"Sister, is there any way that one can cheat a true god?" She asked while laying on her bed.
"I haven't heard of such," Sun Shi just answered. But when she understood the meaning behind it, she gave a knowing look.
"Mei, I know what you are up to. You are already giving him a hard time. So just give up.You are the one who is gonna hurt at the end, "
She was sincere this time
But Mei didn't want to give up. She went searching for her next victim. Jing Ling, of course.
"Hey, Jing Ling, can I ask you something?."
"Sure," He uttered while tending the plants.
"Is there something that your master treasures the most." She asked him wittily.
"Like what?" He just asked while emerging in his own task.
"Anything. " That was her answer.
Jing Ling stopped what he was doing and thought for some time.
"Mm......does he have something he treasure? Well, he has.... he has a collection of scripts that he keeps with him. He always study them whenever he has spare time. Haven't you seen there is one on his desk all the time?I bring them when I arrange the desks."
That's what she wanted to hear. She took her leave from there doing a victory dance inside her head.
So, today morning she sneaked out of their resident early ,waited till Jing Ling left the deck arranging the tables and casted the spell without a note.
When Lu Yan said what exactly happened her heart started beating hard and fast. Her lips went dry, and she couldn't speak up for a while.
" How...how....did he know"
She thought to herself.
"No I cannot just give up now"
So she regained some strength and talked to him again.
"I still deny. Anyone can fabricate anything"
She was totally going overboard. Suddenly, the sky darkened. Dark clouds gathered the ambience from nowhere. Sun Shi grabbed Li Mei from her arm in wanting to stop her.
What Lu Yan did next was performing a hand formation and making breech in the nearby. Then the whole scenario was played right infront of her eyes without any failure.
That's when Li Mei understood she had crossed the line.
"He can read minds" Her whole body trembled in fear.
It was a spell which True god Lu Yan recieved from the Chief god on be half of the bravery he had shown in the War of Constellation.
At once, Li Mei could see a lightning bolt cracked from the heaven. She covered her eyes in fear ,but thankfully ,it never landed.
Next, Lu Yan's hand went to his other sleeve. Li Mei clearly knew what was happening. She didn't have to extend her hand . He himself made a swift move from his fingers, and her hand was automatically extended towards him. There landed 10 thrashes . Five on each palm
She cried out in pain, but he didn't stop till blood smeared from her palms. She had no strength to pull back her arms as well. She winced in pain, screamed, and cried a river of tears.
Then, at the end of his punishment, he kept the script she ruined, which consisted of a hundred pages on her palms.
"Now copy this 10 times. Do you still deny? Then, I might punish someone else."
He said, pointing at Sun Shi's direction. There was no moist in his eyes when he uttered that.
Mei clearly knew what he meant. She didn't want her sister to suffer because of her. So, she held the script with trembling fingers covered in blood.
She had learnt her lesson well. Do never underestimate a true god.
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