The ancient tree’s gnarled branches stretched in every direction. Lou Yue sat on one of its thick limbs, clutching the golden inheritance fruit in her hands and wolfing it down.
The moment she saw Xiao Rangchen climbing the steps toward her, she began eating even faster.
Damn it, why was the inheritance fruit so huge? It was even larger than both her fists put together—and there wasn’t even a pit!
Xiao Rangchen came closer and closer, then leaped directly onto the steps she had climbed and made his way up to the platform.
Lou Yue freed one hand and waved it vaguely at him. Her cheeks were puffed out like a squirrel’s, and she mumbled, “Don’t come over—”
Trying to speak while eating had consequences. She choked.
Lou Yue thumped herself several times and barely managed to swallow. Then she hurriedly chewed and gulped down the last few mouthfuls.
Xiao Rangchen walked slowly beneath the tree and looked up at her.
Lou Yue chewed and chewed until she finally swallowed the entire golden fruit. She lifted her chin slightly and looked down at the man beneath her from her lofty perch.
“I’ve already finished the inheritance fruit!”
The corners of Xiao Rangchen’s lips seemed to curve upward as he drawled, “Was it good? What did it taste like?”
Lou Yue froze.
The situation had been too urgent just now for her to savor it. Let alone the flavor, she didn’t even know whether it had been sweet or sour—or whether it had had any taste at all.
The man beneath the tree was still looking at her.
Lou Yue braced both hands against the trunk and leaned forward slightly, casting him a sidelong glance. Her tone was arrogant and defiant.
“I’m not telling you.”
Xiao Rangchen did not press her. He simply stood beneath the tree, gazing quietly up at her. Deep in his dark eyes, a smile slowly spread.
It was different from his usual faint smile, and it did not vanish in the blink of an eye. It was like a spring breeze slowly brushing across a frozen lake—gentle and tender, carrying an indescribable affection.
The next moment, he reached a hand toward her.
His palm was clean and slender, his fingers long and sharply defined.
In his raised eyes, the tree’s radiance was reflected, along with her figure. They shone as though an entire river of stars had fallen into them.
Thump. Thump. Thump-thump—
The sound of her heartbeat grew heavier with every beat.
Something deep within her had been touched by that gaze and that hand. Without a sound, it broke through the soil, pushing out a tender sprout that trembled lightly.
Lou Yue’s fingers, braced against the branch, curled unconsciously. She turned her head away and looked toward the pale-gold branches above her, bare of leaves.
The branch beside her suddenly sank.
She turned back and saw that he had actually sat down beside her. She immediately glared at him.
“What are you coming up here for?”
Xiao Rangchen looked at her and gave a low laugh. His deep, magnetic voice seemed to burrow straight into her heart.
“You won’t go down, so I had no choice but to come up and keep you company.”
Lou Yue looked away and shifted a little farther to the side.
Xiao Rangchen acted as though he had not noticed, allowing her to put some distance between them.
The inheritance fruit had begun to radiate heat inside her body. Lou Yue thought that she should absorb and refine it now.
She dug her fingertips into the branch and gazed into empty space.
“Do you regret coming out to block Cangya Xun? If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been injured and fallen unconscious. The inheritance fruit might have become yours.”
The person beside her remained silent for a long while.
Unable to resist, Lou Yue turned her head toward him, only to find herself meeting a pair of eyes that had been waiting for her.
“I don’t regret it.” His voice was soft but unwavering. “On the contrary, I’m glad I did.”
Xiao Rangchen said nothing more. His gaze paused on the spiritual energy spilling from her body before he said, “Focus on refining it. I’ll stand guard.”
He leaped down from the tree, then gave her one more deep look before leaning against the trunk and closing his eyes, arms folded across his chest.
Lou Yue let out a breath, steadied her mind, and stopped looking at the man beneath the tree. She sat cross-legged and concentrated on absorbing the power of the inheritance fruit within her.
Xiao Rangchen opened his eyes again. Tilting his head slightly, he gazed at her figure in the tree, his expression deep and restrained, his eyes unmoving for a long, long time.
“Do you know that inheritance fruit could have allowed you to enter the Deity Transformation realm? Now that it’s gone, where in this world will you find another treasure like it? You were only one step too slow!” Yu Youchun could not help scolding him. “If you hadn’t intervened earlier—”
[Master.] Xiao Rangchen interrupted him calmly. [Even if I hadn’t intervened, the inheritance might not have belonged to me. Besides, she was the one who brought me into the final trial.]
“That may be true, but what an enormous opportunity it was. To lose it just like that…”
Yu Youchun let out a long sigh. Who could have known that his disciple would merely smile faintly? Before Yu Youchun could think too deeply about it, Xiao Rangchen raised one hand, and a cluster of dark, ghostly flames ignited in his palm.
Even Yu Youchun, who prided himself on remaining calm, could not help exclaiming, “Your Sui Fire advanced!”
The Sui Fire was his most famous technique, one he took great pride in. It was divided into five levels, distinguished by color. From lowest to highest, they were red, blue, black, and white.
He had passed it on to Xiao Rangchen two years ago. A year earlier, Xiao Rangchen had already cultivated blue flames, far surpassing Yu Youchun’s progress at the same age. Yet after that, he had made no further advancement for an entire year.
The Sui Fire was closely linked to one’s state of mind, but a transformation of the heart often required a special opportunity. No matter how anxious he became, there was nothing he could do.
And now, the Sui Fire had finally advanced to black flames. This journey had not been in vain after all.
Yu Youchun gave a heavy snort. “Looks like your luck isn’t too bad, brat.”
A moment later, Yu Youchun came to his senses, and his eyes sharpened.
“Wait. You brat—you didn’t break through your mental barrier because of this boy, did you?!”
When Xiao Rangchen remained impassively silent, Yu Youchun immediately grew furious.
“You’re really planning to hang yourself from this crooked tree for the rest of your life, aren’t you? You nearly failed the ‘Desire’ trial in the Seven Emotions Pass back then. I should have realized it then—when it comes to matters of the heart, you’re destined to fall hard!”
“With talent like yours, why insist on fixating on just one person? Once you achieve success and fame, what kind of person couldn’t you have? Even if you married several, no one would dare say a word.”
“And yet you had to fall for a boy. Not just any boy, either, but one this difficult to deal with. In the future—”
[Master.]
Yu Youchun cut himself off.
Fine. He was protecting her like this, not even allowing anyone to say a single bad thing about her!
The joy Yu Youchun had felt over the advancement of Xiao Rangchen’s Sui Fire instantly vanished. He sealed off his five senses and could not be bothered to look at his disciple’s foolishly devoted vigil any longer.
The area fell quiet again.
Xiao Rangchen lifted his eyes toward Lou Yue.
The spiritual energy around her was rising steadily. She had already surpassed the early stage of the Dongxu realm and was now pushing toward the intermediate stage.
Her eyes were closed as she focused her mind. The sight made him recall the first time he had seen her four years ago.
At that time, she had also been sitting cross-legged in a tree. Her posture had been ordinary, yet somehow carried an unrestrained, carefree quality.
With only one glance, he had never been able to forget her.
And now, dressed as a woman, she had lost some of her former boldness and rebelliousness with her eyes closed, gaining instead a rare gentleness and serenity.
It made him wish that time could remain forever suspended in this moment.
That all their grudges and hatred, all the troubles of the mortal world, and everyone unrelated to them could stay far away.
If only they really could remain like this forever.
How wonderful that would be.
*
Following the surge of spiritual energy within her body, Lou Yue diverted a strand of its rich, gentle power toward the beast-contract sigil beneath her chest.
Since she had come to the Savage Wasteland, Xuanba had naturally followed her. However, to avoid exposing her identity, Xuanba had remained hidden within the sigil on her body.
Now that such an excellent opportunity had presented itself, she certainly could not forget about it.
Time passed slowly.
Her cultivation ultimately stopped at the Great Perfection of the Dongxu realm. Strictly speaking, the spiritual energy within her body had already touched the Deity Transformation realm. However, entering the Deity Transformation realm required surviving a heavenly tribulation.
The special barrier within the inheritance ruins prevented the heavenly tribulation from sensing her. The moment she left the ruins, the tribulation would descend automatically.
In addition to the increase in her cultivation, several cultivation techniques had also appeared in her mind. She was in no hurry to study them for now. What she truly looked forward to was inheriting the entirety of the Ancient Sage Ruins.
A mysterious and ineffable sensation rose from the depths of her soul.
She “saw” everything happening in the inner region, “saw” everyone still undergoing their trials, “saw” Cangya Xun trapped in the formation below, and also “saw” Xiao Rangchen beneath the tree, staring at her without blinking.
She could clearly sense that she had become the master of these ruins. It was as though, with a mere thought, everything around her would change according to her will.
Xiao Rangchen suddenly felt a breeze brush past him.
In the blink of an eye, the golden ground beneath his feet transformed into an endless, lush meadow. Pale-purple flowers dotted the grass, swaying in the wind as they stretched all the way to the horizon, brimming with life.
Wherever the breeze passed, waves of flowers rippled and rose and fell.
Qinglin, who had been sleeping all this time, woke up. With a flash of light, it leaped out from Xiao Rangchen’s chest and transformed into its half-human-height true form.
It galloped joyfully across the meadow on its four hooves.
“Big Brother, I love it here!”
A colorful butterfly circled it several times before slowly settling on its single horn.
Xiao Rangchen watched its careful, motionless posture and curved his lips into a faint smile.
Another butterfly seemed to have lost its way. It drifted toward him, leisurely and unhurried.
He raised his hand slightly and curled his fingers. The butterfly landed on the back of his finger, its wings folding together.
When Lou Yue opened her eyes, two hours had already passed.
Xiao Rangchen seemed lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the empty space in the distance. His expression was calm and focused, almost gentle.
It was only when she jumped down from the tree that he returned to his senses.
“Congratulations.”
His voice was clean and sincere, without a trace of unwillingness or probing—as though he was genuinely happy for her.
Lou Yue raised her brows slightly in acknowledgment.
“What were you looking at just now?” She still couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Xiao Rangchen paused for a moment. “Nothing.”
Lou Yue looked away.
He wasn’t willing to say, and she had no reason to force him.
“You really want to know?” he asked.
“No.”
Xiao Rangchen looked at the tense corners of her eyes and chuckled softly. “You were the one who asked me to tell you. You can’t get angry once I do.”
Lou Yue looked at him again, her gaze falling on the smiling eyes that had held that expression twice now. She pursed her lips. “I didn’t ask you to tell me.”
“I was thinking that this place is still missing a house.”
He spoke slowly, sketching out the scene one detail at a time. “It would be even better if there were a large courtyard.”
“You like lively places. Every so often, you could invite your friends over.”
“We could plant a Chunhua tree in the courtyard. When spring came, I’d pick Chunhua fruit for you and feed it to you with my own hands.”
“If there were plenty, we could share some with others.”
“Beneath the Chunhua tree, we should place a spacious, comfortable lounge chair. When we had nothing else to do, we could lie there and rest.”
“There should also be a hot spring behind the house. Whenever we were tired, we could soak in it and stretch our sore muscles.”
He fixed his eyes on Lou Yue, the deep darkness in them melting into something intense. His voice dropped into a low, alluring murmur.
“Would you like me to continue?”
The tips of Lou Yue’s ears heated up, and the warmth seemed to be creeping toward her cheeks.
She gritted her teeth and snapped, “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze lingered on her trembling lashes for a long moment before he said quietly, “Mm. I was just imagining things.”
His voice was light and subdued. Just as Lou Yue was wondering whether she should say something else, the person in front of her spoke again.
“You can arrange it however you like. I’m fine with anything.”
“Xiao Rangchen!” Lou Yue’s voice rose sharply.
How had she never realized before that this man was so good at adding scenes to his own story?
And this was obviously out of character! The Long Aotian archetype was supposed to be cold, restrained, self-controlled, and a man of action rather than words.
Where was the slightest trace of coldness in him now? Where was his restraint?
He might as well have written “I want to live with you” in bold letters across his forehead!
“What’s wrong with you? Did you take the wrong medicine? Or is the sky about to fall? Can you please speak normally?”
The corners of Xiao Rangchen’s lips lifted high. “You asked, so I told you.”
Yes, she had asked—but she hadn’t told him to go on and on, saying one thing after another!
