"That one," he said.
He pointed.
Fanxue went completely still.
"I — " she started again. Her voice came out three registers higher than usual. "Ancestor, this humble one has preserved her —" She swallowed. "I have maintained my cultivation through the preservation of — the Plum Blossom technique in its pure form requires that the practitioner maintain — I was preserving it for my Dao companion —"
"You are," said the sect master Yaolan, who had descended the pool steps and was standing waist-deep in the blood-tinged water with the expression of a woman who had decided that her personal dignity was best maintained by moving forward rather than remaining in place, "in the presence of an ancestor. You are blessed to be chosen."
"Sect master —"
"'Go,'" said Yaolan.
Fanxue's mouth closed.
Her arms dropped from around her tits.
