The morning sun shone golden.
Luo Luo tilted her head to look.
The person beside her was arrogant, self-assured, and brimming with vigor.
Spitting blood, he laughed wildly. Before collapsing from exhaustion, he swiftly reached out an arm and hooked it around her.
His heavy, lifeless arm weighed down on her shoulder, nearly draping his entire upper body over her.
With a thud, Luo Luo felt herself shrink under the pressure.
Her fingers, resting idly at her sides, curled slightly. After a moment’s hesitation, she slowly reached out and tentatively placed a hand on his back.
"Just holding you up, so we can escape," she added needlessly.
He wasn’t pleased. Lifting his eyelids lazily, he replied with a careless, domineering tone, "Escape? I’ll kill anyone who comes. See if they dare."
Luo Luo: "...Yeah, yeah, yeah."
For the first time, she realized that triple affirmation could actually mean the opposite.
:)
Seeing him half-conscious, she wondered how long that reversed Eight Trigrams golden array could last.
Supporting his weight, she waited as he caught his breath before he whisked them away a hundred miles in an instant, leaving the Divine Mountain behind piece by piece.
By the time the distant sound of the array shattering echoed across the horizon, the two had already vanished into an ancient, dense forest.
Woods were the easiest place to hide one’s presence—a trick she’d learned from years of sneaking around.
Sunlight couldn’t pierce through the gaps in the trees, and the dim morning light felt like dusk.
Twisted, dry roots covered the ground, making the path treacherous.
He still had his arm around her shoulder, and she hadn’t let go of his back either.
Suddenly, he asked, "What don’t you want?"
Luo Luo stiffened, then answered slowly, "I just… didn’t want to disturb you."
He looked exasperated. "So instead of disturbing me, you just chanted ‘don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t’ in your head? Just kill me already."
Her fingers curled and uncurled nervously, her fingertips absently tugging at the hem of his robe.
Skkrt skkrt skkrt.
She didn’t dare think.
Watch closely—I’ll only show you once.
That was the first thing Li Zhaoye had said to her when they met.
Is it stupid to risk your life for mortals?
At the bottom of Wuyuan Valley, when she’d gotten trapped by demons while saving a few ordinary villagers, Li Zhaoye had fought his way to her, covered in blood, and cast her that same lazy, bloodstained glance—no different from the one he’d given her last night.
Sometimes, it felt like she could read his mind a little. Like when his eyes said, That sword move was cool, or I’m here, go wild, she could hear it.
She didn’t dare think.
How could she?
She especially didn’t dare think about how much this arm-around-shoulders journey resembled that last walk they’d taken under the night sky before parting.
He suddenly asked, "What night walk?"
"?!" Luo Luo’s eyes widened in shock, her mind blanking for a long moment before she finally managed to stammer, "Walking at night… catching pheasants… eating."
Her brain immediately started looping: Eat chicken eat chicken eat chicken eat chicken.
He stared at her like she’d lost her mind. "Are you some kind of immortal?"
Covered in blood, running for their lives, and she’s thinking about pheasant meat?
"..."
Half an hour later, he crouched among a tangle of gnarled roots, struggling to start a fire, questioning his life choices.
Luo Luo, without looking up, held out a hand. "String."
He: "..."
What kind of lunatic came up with the idea of using sealing thread to pluck chicken feathers?!
And that brilliant technique of slaughtering chickens with a flying sword.
Unbelievable.
Luo Luo couldn’t hear his internal ranting. Mimicking Li Zhaoye’s past actions, she prepared the chicken, wrapped it in broad, fragrant leaves, buried it in the dirt, built a fire pit, and covered it with dry leaves, bark, and lichen.
Luo Luo: "Fire."
He handed it over with a deadpan expression.
She carefully caught the ember with her fingertips, crouched low to light the fire, and blew gently on the smoke, her lips puckered.
By the time the fire was burning steadily, her nose, cheeks, and forehead were smudged with soot.
The beggar’s chicken would take a while to cook.
After watching the flames for a bit, she shuffled sideways toward him without standing up and asked, "Want me to check your injuries?"
"You know how to treat them?"
"...No."
"Got any medicine?"
"...No."
Luo Luo suddenly felt like a complete idiot. She lowered her head in frustration, her fingers picking at the moss and lichen on the roots.
Leaning against a tree, one knee bent and an arm draped lazily over it, he studied her for a moment. Stripped of her usual bravado, she looked oddly familiar.
His gaze shifted to a snail slowly crawling along a nearby branch.
The moment he raised a hand, it instantly retracted into its shell.
He laughed. "This your relative or something?"
Luo Luo shot the silly snail a glance, then gave him a reproachful look, pressing her lips together in silence.
Her mind, however, was anything but silent—Don’t talk don’t talk don’t talk don’t talk…
And so, he was treated to another auditory masterpiece—an endless loop of Don’t talk.
Against all odds, Luo Luo’s first attempt at roasting chicken turned out surprisingly delicious.
Before she’d even finished unwrapping the fragrant leaves, his eyes were glued to it.
He casually stepped in to "help."
"Hey, careful—don’t drop it—"
As soon as his hand moved, Luo Luo anticipated him, raising her wrist to block his grab for the chicken wing.
They locked eyes. He curved his lips into a fake smile. "Hah. Like I’d fight you for it?"
Luo Luo gave him an unimpressed look. "You’re too injured to win anyway."
He: "..."
Using the soft, roasted leaves as a makeshift plate, she tore into the chicken.
She piled the best parts in front of herself, then shredded the white meat into strips and pushed them toward him—after all, the wings and drumsticks were hers.
His eyelid twitched. Then his mouth twitched.
Too weak to fight her now, and worse—he’d taught her that sword technique himself.
Karma.
Calmly dividing the chicken, she finally glanced up. "Eat."
She reached for a drumstick.
Crispy skin, juicy meat, with a natural, unseasoned richness.
"Hey—" he suddenly called.
Luo Luo looked up. "Hm?"
He asked, "Why aren’t you thinking about that Li Zhaoye anymore?"
The abrupt question made her flinch, her fingers tightening reflexively—
The moment her grip loosened on the drumstick, she heard two quick whooshes.
Distracted, she could only watch as he snatched a drumstick and a wing right from under her nose.
Luo Luo: "..."
What kind of person does this?!
Thousands of miles away.
By the time the Tai Xuan Sect arrived at the Dreamjade Marsh, where this year’s Azure Cloud Assembly was being held, the surrounding cities were already packed to the brim.
Flying swords glided overhead, while roads and waterways below were jammed with people.
Spectators, aspiring disciples, fortune-seekers, and merchants—all had flocked to the Azure Cloud Assembly.
The carriages of noble families were stuck in a sea of carts—horse-drawn, donkey-pulled, even sheep-led—while the lavish pleasure boats and warships of young lords found themselves surrounded by fishing vessels and merchant ships.
Unless one could fly, all were equal in this traffic.
But the great sects had their flying vessels.
A dragon-like shadow swept through the clouds, casting a vast silhouette below. By the time the people on the ground looked up, the massive flying ships—some gilded and resplendent, others dark and imposing, still others wreathed in immortal mist—had already soared past overhead.
Aboard the black-and-gold sandalwood flying ship of the Tai Xuan Sect, Xu Junzhu, the senior sister leading the delegation, had just finished giving instructions.
After a brief pause, she added a few more words.
"This time, the Heavy Star Sect and the Heavenly Dao Sect clearly intend to target us jointly. The rules of the Azure Cloud Assembly have also changed somewhat. All of you must stay vigilant and not let your guard down. Especially—"
Xu Junzhu instinctively glanced at Li Zhaoye, last tournament’s champion, but her words abruptly halted.
The disciples seated by the windows followed her gaze.
There, Gu Meng was feeding Li Zhaoye a grape on a fork.
A vein twitched at Xu Junzhu’s temple, but before she could react, her younger sister Xu Junlan slammed the table and stood, pointing furiously at Gu Meng. "We’re discussing serious matters! Do you have no sense of propriety? All you care about is stuffing your face!"
Xu Junlan’s infatuation with Li Zhaoye was common knowledge in the Tai Xuan Sect.
When Li Zhaoye and Luo Luo had been engaged, Xu Junlan refused to accept it. She picked fights with Luo Luo every few days, only to be beaten down each time, left sobbing and pounding the floor in frustration. Once she recovered, she’d forget the pain and go right back to ambushing Luo Luo.
One day, Luo Luo finally lost patience and asked slowly, "If you like Li Zhaoye so much, why do you keep coming after me instead of him?"
Xu Junlan wailed even louder, "How could I ever bear to harm a single hair on his head?!"
The blunt Luo Luo delivered a crushing blow: "You can’t even beat me. There’s no way you could hurt him."
Xu Junlan: "&%$#@!"
That day, Xu Junlan tapped into some hidden potential and nearly fought Luo Luo to a draw.
Now Luo Luo was gone, replaced by someone even more insufferable.
"Let me teach you some manners!"
Xu Junlan’s eyes flashed as she leaped over several low tables, her palm slicing toward Gu Meng.
Li Zhaoye, who had just tilted his head back to avoid the grape being offered, watched with faint amusement as Xu Junlan attacked.
He nudged Gu Meng lightly. "She wants to spar with you."
The massive flying ship was reinforced with layers of defensive formations, so minor skirmishes wouldn’t affect its flight.
Gu Meng panicked for a moment but quickly steadied herself.
She pulled out an ethereal, multicolored silk ribbon from her qiankun pouch and flailed it toward Xu Junlan.
Knowing Gu Meng was a mortal, Xu Junlan naturally held back.
She had only meant to knock the offending grape from Gu Meng’s hand, but when she saw the ribbon, she casually swiped at it to deflect.
BAM!
A rebound force sent her flying backward, blood spraying from her lips.
She barely kept her footing, eyes wide with shock. "You—"
Gu Meng herself was stunned for a second.
Then, elation.
Her master had gone all out to make her strong—strong enough to humiliate the sect leader and his followers!
During her time at the main peak, Gu Meng had endured no shortage of scorn from the Xu sisters.
One always lectured her with the air of a senior sister, berating her laziness and lack of ambition. The other, consumed by jealousy, needled her with constant comparisons to Luo Luo.
But now? The tables had turned.
Xu Junzhu shot to her feet. "Gu Meng, what kind of crooked technique is this?!"
Though the ribbon radiated dense spiritual energy, there was an unsettling chill to it.
Gu Meng clenched her teeth and flicked her wrist, sending the ribbon streaking toward Xu Junzhu like a rigid spear.
"Senior Sister, allow me to test your skills!"
Xu Junzhu’s pupils constricted. She planted her stance and struck back with her sheathed sword.
CLANG!
The ribbon’s tip was hard as steel.
Then, in the next instant, it softened, coiling around Xu Junzhu’s blade like a serpent.
"What a formidable artifact!"
Clearly, this fluid shift wasn’t Gu Meng’s doing—the ribbon itself possessed intricate offensive and defensive mechanisms.
But the more powerful the artifact, the more spiritual energy it required to wield. How had Gu Meng gained such dense, unorthodox energy in just days?
Before Xu Junzhu could process this, her sword was wrenched away and clattered onto the deck.
Meanwhile, Xu Junlan, still dazed, charged forward again—only for the ribbon to snap back and slap her across the face, sending her crashing into several low tables.
Xu Junzhu seethed. "You—!"
"Me what?" Gu Meng lifted her chin. "When you were stronger, you could mock and humiliate me as you pleased. Now that I’ve surpassed you, you resort to slander? My master taught me everything I know. I was a failure under the sect leader, but under him, I’m a prodigy. Maybe you should reflect on why that is!"
Xu Junzhu’s fair face flushed crimson as she hurried to check her sister’s injuries.
Xu Junlan remained in a daze.
"Li Zhaoye" stretched lazily. "If we’re done with official business, let’s go."
He strode out of the main cabin, Gu Meng trotting eagerly after him.
"I—I really beat them!" She bit her lip, shaking his arm in disbelief. "Big Brother Li, I won!"
"Li Zhaoye" smiled faintly. "You’re no less than anyone."
"Mm!" Gu Meng beamed. "They’re at the late Golden Core stage, right?"
Chen Xuanyi: "Yes."
Gu Meng felt like she was dreaming. "I’m stronger than late Golden Core cultivators!"
"Then…" She hesitated, eyes flickering with curiosity. "What about Luo Luo? If she were here, could I beat her too?"
At the mention of that name, a shadow flickered through Chen Xuanyi’s eyes.
After a pause, his smile returned, flawless. "Her? She’s only mid Golden Core."
Gu Meng let out a disappointed sigh.
What a shame. If only Luo Luo could come to the Azure Cloud Assembly.
Every ounce of humiliation Luo Luo had inflicted on her—she’d repay it tenfold!
Meanwhile.
Luo Luo suddenly felt her ears grow warm, as if someone were talking about her.
She glanced up.
The forest’s edge was near. Once out, she’d ask for directions and hurry to the Azure Cloud Assembly.
She turned to her severely injured companion. "Hey—"
"Have you grown increasingly bold lately?" he asked flatly.
Luo Luo: "?"
Her? Bold?
He was displeased. "Am I ‘Hey’ or ‘Ah’ to you? How long has it been since you last addressed me as ‘Your Excellency’? This venerable one is injured, not dead."
Luo Luo: "…"
She stared at him blankly for a long moment.
Finally, she reached into her Qiankun pouch and pulled out a dried chicken wing she had been saving for days, waving it in front of him.
She: "Hmm?"
He: "Hmm!"
Any more ellipses would have been disrespectful to the chicken wing.
