The sandalwood-blackened windows of the Heart-Questioning Hall were sealed shut by Master Qingxu's spiritual power, impossible to open, yet sunlight still filtered through the lattice. Within the vertical beams of light, motes of dust danced up and down. Two figures stood in silence within the hall.
After a moment, Li Zhaoye smiled again. "Reason?"
Luo Luo met his gaze. Ever since he lost his memory, his eyes remained as dark and clear as ever, yet now they were utterly inscrutable.
He was smiling, but there was no warmth in those depths.
Pressing her lips together, she spoke earnestly. "I handed you the Cold-Warding Pill—it was you who fed it to Gu Meng. Master would be wary of her, but not of you."
Only the two of them had handled the pill. She was certain she hadn’t made a mistake, which meant it could only have been him.
"What I’m asking," Li Zhaoye said, his expression mocking, "is my reason for harming her."
Luo Luo fell silent.
Li Zhaoye answered for her. "You want to say I had no choice, that I’m using Gu Meng to distance myself from you, all to protect you? Do you also want to say that by covering for me and taking the blame, I should be moved? What kind of melodramatic nonsense is this? You’re overthinking it. Instead of comforting yourself with delusions, face the truth."
Luo Luo asked, "What is the truth?"
"Even if I did switch the medicine," he said coldly, staring at her, "it’s because I don’t trust you. There’s no hidden reason. Since you insist on asking, I’ll tell you plainly—"
He leaned in, blocking the sunlight, casting Luo Luo into shadow.
Backlit, his expression was unreadable.
"I feel nothing for you now," he said. "I’m breaking off the engagement. I’m going to marry Gu Meng."
The heart-bond mark on Luo Luo’s wrist throbbed painfully.
She tilted her head up and smiled at him. "You won’t."
He smirked. "What gives you that confidence?"
Luo Luo: "You."
"Tch." He took half a step back, flicking his wrist. "You’ve misjudged me. If I’d truly been so devoted before, why didn’t I marry you sooner? When a man delays, it means he doesn’t really want to."
Luo Luo flared up. "Don’t you dare say that!"
He scoffed. "What, can’t handle the truth? Once the engagement’s broken, I’ll marry her immediately. Then you’ll see what real—"
Luo Luo struck.
She swung Autumn Water—scabbard and all—straight at his head.
Li Zhaoye instinctively dodged, reflexively reaching for his sword—only to grasp empty air.
Though his combat instincts were sharp and his techniques refined, his injuries were still severe, his spiritual power depleted. He barely avoided the blow to his head, but the scabbard slammed into his shoulder.
He choked back a mouthful of blood, gritting his teeth. "You—"
Luo Luo raised the sword again.
Li Zhaoye cursed.
He sidestepped, grabbing a blue-jade incense burner from the table to block.
Crash!
Jade fragments scattered, shards of colored glass refracting dazzling sunlight.
Luo Luo’s blade sliced through the glittering dust.
A breathless silence.
"What’s all this—ah! My precious burner—!"
The hall doors burst open with a bang. A figure in green robes swept in like a storm, planting himself between Luo Luo and Li Zhaoye.
Master Qingxu trembled as he reached out, grasping only empty air.
Luo Luo held her breath, quickly hiding the sword behind her back. "He dropped it, Master! Look, there’s still incense ash on his hands!"
Li Zhaoye’s eye twitched. "..."
Luo Luo didn’t dare imagine what would happen next in the Heart-Questioning Hall.
She tiptoed out, considerately locking the door behind her—double-locked, even sealing it with spiritual power.
Leaving Mirror-Twin Peak, she headed straight for Elder Alchemy Peak.
Gu Meng wasn’t in her sickbed, nor was anyone else around.
Just as Luo Luo grew puzzled, a rich aroma of dates reached her. Following the scent, she headed toward the small kitchen behind the medicine hut where decoctions were brewed.
A crowd of disciples had gathered outside the wooden door.
The kitchen curtain shifted—
Gu Meng stepped out, wiping sweat from her brow with her sleeve.
Her face was still pale, but her smile was sweet. "I’m still weak, so I had to trouble the immortals to bring out the date cakes..."
"No trouble at all!" one disciple laughed loudly. "Miss Gu, you’re still recovering, yet you’ve gone to the trouble of cooking for us. We’re the ones who should be embarrassed!"
"It’s nothing. I’m not some delicate noble," Gu Meng said cheerfully. "After wasting so much precious medicine, this is the least I can do to show my gratitude. I hope you won’t find it too humble."
Another disciple, already stuffing his mouth with sticky-sweet cake, mumbled, "Miss Gu, your cooking’s amazing! You should just stay here at Elder Alchemy Peak!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Gu Meng gave a bittersweet smile, shaking her head slightly.
Only one in ten thousand had the talent to enter the outer sect, and outer disciples fought tooth and nail for the slim chance to advance to the inner sect, becoming disciples under the peaks’ masters and elders.
What were the odds she’d ever be so lucky?
The thought had barely formed when Gu Meng saw the very picture of that luck.
Luo Luo stood outside the crowd, sword in arms, watching her.
Gu Meng stiffened, her face draining of color.
She forced a smile. "Immortal Luo, were you looking for me?"
The chatter died, leaving only the sweet scent of date cakes hanging in the air.
Luo Luo walked forward under the weight of countless stares, plucking a cake from the tray in a dazed senior’s hands. She took a bite.
Sweet, soft, fragrant—not the least bit sticky.
"It really is delicious!" Luo Luo said.
Shoulders around her relaxed subtly.
After finishing the cake, she dusted her fingers and tilted her head at Gu Meng. "Come with me. We need to talk."
Gu Meng bit her lip, her deer-like eyes darting pleadingly around the crowd.
Brows furrowed slightly, expressions tinged with worry and hesitation—yet no one spoke up to stop her. When their eyes met, they offered awkward, apologetic smiles, silently reassuring her: It’s fine, it’s fine.
Gu Meng had no choice but to follow Luo Luo, glancing back every few steps.
They stopped under a secluded osmanthus tree by the medicine garden.
Luo Luo cut straight to the point. "I won’t let you see Li Zhaoye again."
At this, Gu Meng’s eyes reddened instantly.
Luo Luo added, "It’s for your own good."
Gu Meng straightened her back, tears welling. "Immortal Luo, there’s no need for this. I never intended to overstay. It’s you who—"
"Not me. Li Zhaoye." Luo Luo was blunt. "He switched your medicine. I don’t know what he’s planning, but you’re innocent. Don’t get dragged into it."
Gu Meng shook her head in disbelief. "No, he wouldn’t."
Luo Luo said, "You don’t know him."
Gu Meng laughed bitterly. "And how much do you know him? When I met him, his past was a blank slate—a fresh sheet of paper. I came to know him bit by bit. I know exactly the kind of person he is."
Luo Luo asked, "What kind is that?"
Gu Meng’s lips curved into a tender smile as she reminisced. "Aloof, righteous, kind-hearted."
Luo Luo: "..."
Not a single word matched.
Luo Luo stated flatly, "Then the person you like isn’t Li Zhaoye—it’s an illusion. He’s nothing like that."
Gu Meng disagreed. "Immortal Luo, you’re being willfully blind. If you truly cared for Brother Li, you’d respect and accept him as he is now, not force him back into the past. The him who forgot everything—he was happy."
It was something Gu Meng had long wanted to say.
With such a domineering master and such a willful fiancée... Big Brother Li must have been quite unhappy in the past.
Luo Luo froze for a moment at those words.
Happy? She had never really thought about whether she was happy or not when she was with Li Zhaoye.
All she knew was that he was a battle maniac—he couldn’t stand staying in the sect for even a moment without a fight, so she sparred with him.
She would fight with him for as long as he wanted.
Once they’d had their fill, they’d change into black night robes and sneak either to the Laojun Peak to steal Senior Uncle Fuling’s treasured medicinal wine or to the Qingyu Peak to swipe someone’s chickens.
Every time they roasted a chicken, the elusive Master Qingxu would appear out of nowhere.
Qingxu would always grumble, "How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t steal the mountain chickens, wrap them in lotus leaves, bury them in the dirt, and roast them! And don’t touch the red elixir wine in the third cabinet, fourth row, eighth column! And absolutely, under no circumstances, are you to go near that damned nun’s beloved patch of jade chives—chive omelets are forbidden!"
All these years, no one ever suspected that the prim and proper senior disciple was the one behind these antics.
...Everyone had always assumed it was Qingxu.
Luo Luo didn’t know whether those moments of sore muscles and stolen feasts counted as happiness.
At the time, she hadn’t given it much thought—she just assumed those days would stretch on endlessly, never running out.
But when they descended the mountain to slay demons, they carried their lives in their hands. One misstep, and they’d truly be dead.
If anyone dared ask their companion, "Hey, are you happy?"
Nine times out of ten, they’d get an eye roll and a muttered, "What kind of stupid question is that?"
"Fairy Luo." Gu Meng choked back tears. "You don’t have to worry—I would never compete with you for Big Brother Li."
Luo Luo snapped out of her thoughts. "It’s not about competition. I’m just telling you that you won’t see him again—this has nothing to do with love."
Gu Meng’s lips trembled with humiliation and grief.
Luo Luo continued, "I’ll keep an eye on him. If he tries to find you, I’ll beat him up. He can’t win against me now."
Gu Meng was stunned.
Her mouth fell open. "You... how could you do this...?"
"I’m only asking you—do you want to cultivate or not?" Luo Luo said. "Since Master has already agreed to let you join as an outer disciple, then enter the outer sect. I’ll come every day and teach you personally. I don’t have spirit stones or pills right now, but once I receive my monthly allowance or earn extra from missions, I’ll give them to you first."
Gu Meng pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering uncertainly.
Just as Luo Luo began considering where to start her training, Gu Meng suddenly shook her head.
With a bitter smile, Gu Meng said, "I will never trade my feelings for benefits."
Luo Luo: "?"
Gu Meng lifted her chin defiantly. "I know the price would be never being allowed to like Big Brother Li again. But my feelings are my own. If I keep them hidden in my heart and never disturb you, is that still not allowed? Why must you push me so hard?"
Luo Luo was baffled.
She couldn’t care less who Gu Meng fancied in her heart.
She just wouldn’t let Li Zhaoye trick Gu Meng again—who knew what he’d do next time after switching her medicine?
Luo Luo said seriously, "Li Zhaoye doesn’t like you."
"Hah!" Gu Meng let out a hollow laugh. "I’m not fighting because I don’t want to make things difficult for Big Brother Li! I didn’t want to say this, but last night, I asked him what his feelings for you really were. He told me—there’s not a shred of romantic love between you!"
She took a deep breath and pressed on, "Fairy Luo, I admit you two share a deep bond. But growing up together since childhood—maybe it’s just familial affection, not love. Do you even know how a man acts when he truly loves a woman? He wants to protect her, to possess her... Has he ever treated you that way?"
Gu Meng stared intently into Luo Luo’s eyes.
She had done her research—these childhood sweethearts were always fighting, never intimate. Maybe, just maybe, they were mistaking sibling-like affection for love?
Luo Luo considered Gu Meng’s words carefully.
Protection... Li Zhaoye had once said, "No one can hide behind someone else forever. If you want to live, you need the strength to survive." Chivalry? What a joke—demons devoured people indiscriminately.
Luo Luo thought: Li Zhaoye beats me up three times a day—isn’t that protection?
As for possession...
Li Zhaoye’s earlier words still echoed in her ears—"If I’d really wanted to, why wouldn’t I have married you sooner? When a man drags his feet, it means he’s not that eager."
Luo Luo said, "You wouldn’t understand."
She was perfectly calm, not a hint of a blush.
She and Li Zhaoye had never been the clingy type. That man’s mind was always full of sword forms and killing techniques, his muttering either sword mantras or cultivation methods.
She used to secretly like him.
Others feared his ruthless strikes and refused to spar with him. She was afraid of pain too.
But every time he knocked her down, if she gritted her teeth and tried to get up, he would twirl his sword away and extend a hand to pull her to her feet.
His grip was heavy. His palms were calloused. His bones were unyielding.
The moment he yanked her up, her heart would race as if a scalding, joy-filled rabbit had been stuffed inside.
She hid her little crush, stumbling into the training grounds again and again, pretending she could take it.
Never letting him notice.
She didn’t know when he had started liking her. Even after they became engaged, she never asked—too embarrassed.
Their dynamic remained unchanged.
Both were content with the way things were. They were comrades-in-arms, partners who could entrust their backs to each other, perfectly in sync, their hearts connected.
Li Zhaoye was always steady.
Every time he pulled her up, he let go immediately—no lingering.
Except... there had been one time.
That time in the valley, she had nearly died. If not for her habit of forcing herself back up, if not for her stubborn grip on her sword even when her strength was gone, if not for her refusal to surrender because she couldn’t bear to leave Li Zhaoye behind... she would have died.
When Li Zhaoye found her, she was lying in a sea of corpses, grinning up at him.
His breathing was heavier than hers.
Steam rose from his body, his face smeared with blood. His scorching fingers pressed against the back of her head as he tilted his face down, teeth bared.
She had braced for him to savage her lips.
Her heart pounded wildly, pain forgotten, her body trembling—whether from fear or anticipation, she couldn’t tell.
Then... he stopped, panting harshly, his nose brushing against hers.
"If I kiss you now, I won’t stop," he growled, voice ragged. "I’ll take you right here!"
He reeked of bloodlust, his gaze dark, the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek burning, his expression utterly feral.
Truthfully, Luo Luo wouldn’t have minded.
But he held back.
Because he was superstitious—somewhere in a damned book, he’d read that preserving his "virgin elixir" would increase his chances of a top-tier breakthrough when forming his Nascent Soul.
:)
