The young man had a cold and aloof temperament; he did not look like someone prone to crying. Yet, seeing the mist welling up in his eyes at this moment, Mu Ran surprisingly did not feel anything was amiss and quickly accepted it.
It was as if this was not the first time she had seen him cry.
Mu Ran propped herself up and, in turn, embraced his tall figure. Gently stroking the black hair at the back of his head, she spoke in a tone used for coaxing a child,
"Alright, alright, Jinzhi. You are handsome, you have a lovely voice, and you are so devoted to our family. A husband as good as you cannot be found anywhere else in this world. Since I finally managed to catch you, I definitely won't bear to let you go. Even if someone were to put a knife to my neck and force me to give you up, I wouldn't agree—mmph!"
He covered her mouth.
The youth raised his dark, moist eyes, his breath scorching hot as he spoke. "I will not let such a thing happen."
He was referring to the scenario of someone holding a knife to her neck.
She clearly knew that the one thing he could not accept the most was her being in danger, yet she just had to touch upon that very subject. She really was speaking without a filter.
Mu Ran let out a muffled "Oh."
Cang Shubai buried his face into the crook of her neck again. "Let me hold you for a little while longer."
Mu Ran let him hold her. However, as her gaze fell upon his black hair, her fingers could not help but hook a strand of it. The soft strands were an absolute black, a sort of purity in its own right.
But for some unknown reason, the black hair before her eyes seemed to turn snow-white in an instant.
Mu Ran was in a daze for a moment. When she focused her eyes again, the black hair was still black. That momentary blur was just an illusion.
She felt puzzled. Why would she have such a hallucination?
When the moon reached the middle of the sky in the mystic realm, Cang Shubai picked Mu Ran up and walked towards a hidden cave, which was their temporary resting place.
Mu Ran listened to the sounds of slaughter carried by the wind and smelled the metallic scent of blood drifting from afar.
Those cultivators were slaughtering each other for treasures; at times like this, even fellow sect members were not necessarily reliable.
But Cang Shubai simply stayed by her side in a place far from the killing, living a peaceful life as if they were an ordinary married couple.
It was as if she and those people were in completely different worlds.
Leaning against the youth's solid chest, Mu Ran could not help but look up. In the cold moonlight, the lines of his jaw were even more exquisite and beautiful. She suddenly thought that when their child grew up in the future, their looks would certainly be quite stunning as well.
Her gaze clung to his face, not moving away for a long time. Her eyes were filled with joy and tenderness as she carefully traced the features of the person before her over and over again.
Cang Shubai felt a little self-conscious under her stare. His originally tense expression gradually softened. He lowered his eyes to look at the person nestled beside him, his voice stripped of its usual coldness and full of gentleness. "Why do you keep looking at me?"
Mu Ran did not shy away in the slightest. She spoke straightforwardly and openly, her tone brimming with sincerity, "Because you are beautiful."
As her words fell, she raised her chin, her eyes curving into crescents, and a proud smile rippled across her face. "Such a beautiful young man is my husband."
Cang Shubai was still quite young. Although he had long weathered many storms and possessed a temperament much steadier than his peers, he still lacked experience in matters of romance. Even though they had now done all the intimate things a married couple would do, he simply could not withstand such direct praise from her.
It was just a short sentence, but it instantly made the tips of his ears flush a burning red, which spread along his earlobes to his cheeks. Even the temperature of his face was constantly rising.
He subconsciously avoided her direct gaze and gave a low response from his throat. "Only you would say I am... beautiful."
Cang Shubai was overly cautious. Every time he met people, he would disguise his appearance to look as plain and unremarkable as possible. Even if someone had just seen him a moment ago, they would forget what he looked like the next second because his face was so common and featureless.
It was precisely because of this that he had schemed against so many people; countless enemies wanted to settle scores with him, yet they could not even find him.
However, the very first time Mu Ran saw him, she recognized him through his disguise.
Cang Shubai felt joyous in his heart, yet jealousy also sprouted within him.
She must love the future version of him very, very much to be able to recognize the past him at a single glance.
But it did not matter.
The current Mu Ran did not belong to the past, nor did she belong to the future. She only belonged to the present him.
After returning to the temporary dwelling carved out within the cave, Mu Ran soon fell asleep on the stone bed lined with soft cushions. Therefore, she could not see that her body was faintly showing signs of becoming transparent again.
But as the youth held her hand and channeled more warm energy into her body, her fading form was forcefully and temporarily stabilized once more.
The young man sat by the bed, quietly watching her sleeping face. Insatiable greed and deep attachment overflowed from his eyes, and he could not bear to look away even for a second.
He did not know how many times he had forcefully stabilized her body to keep her in this world like this. Even though using such a method to keep her here caused a tremendous toll on him, he never hesitated.
Cang Shubai's face grew another shade paler, but he did not care about his exhaustion at all. He leaned down, brushed aside the hair at Mu Ran's temples, and placed a light kiss on her cheek.
"You are mine. I will not yield you to anyone."
A commotion came from not far away.
Cang Shubai's gaze turned slightly cold.
"This isn't right. According to the map, there should be a path here."
Hongfu looked at the map suspended in mid-air, then at the sheer cliff before her. She frowned, finding it indescribably strange.
Old Man Longsword stood nearby and said, "Could the map be wrong?"
"This is a map of the mystic realm drawn from the blood, sweat, and tears of several generations in our sect. It is absolutely impossible for it to be wrong."
Old Man Longsword looked ahead and said, "Since we can't find the way, let's just forget it. The treasures shown on the map aren't in this direction anyway. Let's take another path."
He was impatient to seize the supreme treasure so he could advance his cultivation, but Hongfu did not think the same way.
She said, "To be able to deceive my eyes and set up an illusion so flawlessly without revealing a single flaw, that person must have expended a tremendous amount of effort to create such a maze. Expending so much mental energy, I'm afraid there's an even better treasure hidden inside."
Hearing this, Old Man Longsword's eyes lit up.
Yes, what Hongfu said made sense.
Hongfu put away the map and said, "Martial Uncle, let us break this illusion before us together."
The Red Plum White Jade Umbrella appeared in Old Man Longsword's hand, and he said with a booming voice, "Alright!"
Atop the mountain peak, the figure in green slowly clenched his hands, killing intent leaking out.
Ranran had once said that she wanted him to avoid a certain karmic consequence.
It seemed that this karma still had to be severed by his own hands every time.
Suddenly, a young man's voice appeared in his mind.
"You have depleted more than half of your cultivation. You cannot protect her. Give the body to me."
"Shut up." Black demonic aura surfaced around the youth, and a frosty white hue faintly appeared amidst his black hair. He said coldly, "This is my world."
Subsequently, he faded into the darkness, leaving no trace behind.
