Lou Yue slowly woke up in the morning glow.
The first thing that brushed her nose was the crisp, frost-like scent clinging to Xiao Rangchen's warm neck.
She blinked, her memories blurry about what happened after she drank last night. She vaguely remembered Xiao Rangchen pulling her out to sober up.
Judging from the current situation, she must have fallen asleep.
Xiao Rangchen had one arm looped around her, steadily holding a palm-sized white jade in his hand, while the fingers of his other hand gripped a carving knife, his eyes lowered as he carved carefully.
The jade material had just taken a rough shape, and it was impossible to tell what it would turn into yet.
The book never mentioned that he knew how to carve, but since Long Aotian's father was originally a woodcarver, it made perfect sense that he would have this skill.
"What are you carving?" She had just woken up, and her voice still carried a lazy lilt.
Xiao Rangchen did not answer her question directly, but asked in a low voice, "Does your head hurt?"
"No, I just can't remember much of what happened after we came out."
The hand holding the carving knife paused.
Lou Yue felt her throat was a little dry and hoarse, so she asked, "Did I fall asleep as soon as we got out?"
Xiao Rangchen twisted his fingertips slightly, shaving off a corner of excess jade material, and let out a low "mm" in response.
Right after that, he added, "Don't drink alcohol when I'm not around in the future."
Lou Yue lifted her eyes to glance at him, "So that means I can drink when you are around? What, do you have some special skill to cure hangovers?"
He did not respond immediately. After a long moment of silence, he gave a "mm" to confirm her words.
Lou Yue chuckled and rested her head back on him. Having a human cushion was actually pretty comfortable. She looked down, watching his skilled movements as he shaved off the excess scrap material.
His fingers were slender and clean, with distinct knuckles, and a few faint blue veins hid under his cool pale skin, rising and falling gently as he moved to carve.
The white jade he picked was no ordinary piece either. It had the milky white hue of mutton fat jade, with streaks of flowing golden silk seemingly running through it.
Lou Yue stared at it closely, and her breath caught, "Is this Wujou Jade?"
"Mn."
Wujou Jade could clear the mind and purify spiritual energy. Wearing it during meditation could help one absorb spiritual energy in a much purer form. It was a top-tier treasure that was extremely hard to come by in this world.
Even a small piece of Wujou Jade no bigger than a finger might be unaffordable for the disciples of branch clans, let alone the palm-sized piece he was holding.
Lou Yue looked at the discarded jade scraps casually scattered on the ground, and gritted her teeth, "You're using such a huge piece of Wujou Jade to carve something?!"
It was simply a reckless waste of a precious treasure.
"I got it by chance. It's useless to me anyway." His tone was completely casual.
"..." Lou Yue suppressed the urge to hit him.
She was determined to see what exactly he was carving, and what he would do with it after it was finished!
But as if he had heard her thoughts, he stopped right away and put the Wujou Jade back into his storage ring.
Lou Yue scoffed, "Are you carving this for some girl? Why are you hiding it so secretly?"
He brushed the jade dust off his clothes, looked down at her seriously, and said in a low deep voice, "It's not for a girl."
"..." That left her lost for words.
She sat up from his body, ground her back teeth for a moment, then spoke slowly, "Is it for me?"
"Mm."
"What are you carving it into?"
"You'll find out when it's done."
Seeing that he was not going to budge and had made up his mind to keep it a secret, Lou Yue ended up even more curious. But asking any further would make her look petty, so she decided to hold back for now.
However, this incident reminded her of another matter.
She moved a little distance away from him, crossed her arms, raised the corners of her eyes, and stared at him, "That jade hairpin you risked your life to pick up back then—who did it belong to?"
Xiao Rangchen looked at her, her posture clearly that of someone ready to settle old scores, and let out a soft sigh.
"Xiao Rangchen, don't even think about lying to get away with this." Lou Yue said coldly.
He lifted his hand, and a lush green hairpin materialized in his palm.
Lou Yue raised an eyebrow.
Is he keeping it off his body now, for fear of losing it again by accident? Tch.
He held the hairpin out to her.
"What's this for?"
"Take a good look," he said, his tone thick with implication.
Lou Yue nearly arched her brows right off her forehead.
Xiao Rangchen let out another soft sigh, and slowly uttered two words: "It's yours."
"......?"
Seeing the utter confusion and suspicion written all over Lou Yue's face, Xiao Rangchen could only offer more hints. "Two years ago, that night, you left it on the bedchamber mattress."
Two years ago, that night, the bedchamber mattress.
The combination of those words was so loaded with innuendo that Lou Yue blurted out a retort immediately, "Since when did we ever end up on a bedchamber mattress together?"
Xiao Rangchen's gaze darkened in an instant.
Realizing she had let her mind wander to the wrong place, Lou Yue cleared her throat and reached out to pick up the hairpin from his palm.
It was a vibrant, translucent green, warm to the touch, with a simple overall shape yet exquisitely intricate patterns carved all over it.
It did seem to suit her tastes, but she had no memory of ever owning it at all.
Xiao Rangchen took the hairpin back from her hand and stored it in his spatial ring.
"Forget it, this isn't the first time you've forgotten something," he said, his tone sounding rather heavy, his eyelashes drooping low, making her feel like some kind of heartless rogue who had done something and then refused to own up to it.
"...... Fine, if you say it's mine, then it's mine, okay?"
Xiao Rangchen fell silent for a long while, saying nothing more.
When he finally spoke again, he dropped the topic entirely and moved on. "You'd better keep the fact that you've obtained the inheritance a secret for now."
"If the people of the Cangya Clan find out the inheritance is in your hands, they will suspect you had something to do with Cangya Xun's death."
"Yeah, I already had plans for that," Lou Yue said.
Xiao Rangchen looked over at her.
Lou Yue didn't go into details. She just stood up, facing him with her arms spread wide as she welcomed the morning light.
Her purple-gold gown unfurled around her, and the sunlight settled behind her, wrapping her in a soft, warm, gentle halo that made her look all the more regal and dazzling.
"Do I look good?" she asked, the corner of her eyebrow lifting, a bright, cheerful smile on her face.
"Beautiful," he answered quietly, his gaze fixed steadily on her.
"Remember that?"
"Mm."
"Then close your eyes."
Xiao Rangchen obeyed and closed his eyes.
He waited for a moment, hearing the soft rustle of fabric, and after a little longer, her voice reached his ears. "You can open them now."
When he opened his eyes, the whole scene before him had changed.
Lou Yue had switched back to her male form, her curly hair tied high up with only two stray strands falling by her cheeks.
Her figure was slim yet tall and straight, wrapped in a moon-white brocade robe embroidered with subtle dark patterns, the hem stitched with blooming flowers in threads of crimson gold, silver gray, and pale red that seemed to shift and blossom in the morning light, impossible to tear one's eyes away from.
"Do I look good like this?" Lou Yue hooked her lip into a smirk at him.
Xiao Rangchen did not hesitate for a second. "Yes."
"Which version of me looks better?"
"......" Having learned his lesson from last time, he paused only for a split second before answering, "They are equally beautiful."
Hearing his very eager-to-please response, Lou Yue surprisingly didn't tease him any further. She walked over with her hands behind her back. "This is my plan."
Xiao Rangchen stared at that face he hadn't seen for two whole years. Time seemed to have left no mark on it at all, exactly as he remembered it.
"How did you do it?" He couldn't sense the trace of any spell at all. Not only had she shifted back to her male form, her cultivation base had also been hidden from its original Nascent Soul early stage to appear as a Great Vehicle middle stage.
Lou Yue leaned right up to his face and slowly breathed out two words: "Se-cret."
After saying that, she turned and started walking. "Let's go."
Worried that the others would be getting anxious waiting for them, the two of them hurried back at top speed.
Every extra breath you waste here adds to the danger, Yu Youchun said grimly in Xiao Rangchen's sea of consciousness.
"Yesterday you were far too rash, and that left behind a dangerous mess."
"Disposing of a few corpses wouldn't have taken much time, but you just couldn't wait."
"You never held back in the first place, so those bodies are covered in evidence that points straight to you. If you'd left for a while and come back later, the bodies would have been gone. There's no need to think twice about it — the only ones who could have hauled them away in such a short time are the Cangya Clan."
"When they come back this time, the people they send won't be the same low-level cultivators as before."
Yu Youchun pleaded with him earnestly, "Right now, her cultivation base has dropped to the Great Ascension stage, and even I can't spot a single flaw in her disguise. There's no way the Cangya Clan would suspect she was the one who killed the Nascent Soul stage cultivator Cangya Xun. The only one in real danger is you. Listen to your master, leave the Wasteland immediately."
Xiao Rangchen pressed his lips together and said nothing. No matter how much Yu Youchun tried to persuade him, he stubbornly insisted on staying for just one more day.
The moment the group arrived at the campsite from the previous night, every head turned to stare at the two of them. Before the suggestive, teasing looks could fully settle on their faces, they noticed the change that had come over Lou Yue.
"Miss Yue?" Fat Second called out, sounding confused.
"It's me."
Fat Second broke into a grin, then mimicked the gesture he'd picked up from Liufeng Xin the night before, giving her a thumbs up. "Your cross-dressing look is so cool!"
"Even with my cultivation level, I couldn't see through your disguise," Big Brother Wei added with a laugh.
Liufeng Xin walked over and winked at her playfully, only to get a sharp glare from Lou Yue. He immediately dropped the teasing look, straightened up, and said seriously, "Just now Big Brother Wei and the others said they want to head back to their village to rest for a while. Do you want to come with us?"
Lou Yue thought for a moment, then nodded.
Big Brother Wei looked over at Xiao Rangchen, who had sat off to the side carving something the moment they got back. "Xiao Chen, you should come with us too."
Xiao Rangchen didn't lift his head. His eyes stayed fixed on the object in his hands, and his tone was light and distant. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up later."
Lou Yue could tell just by looking at him that he wanted to spend a little more time carving before rushing to catch up with the group. She wasn't actually in that much of a hurry, but she didn't say anything about it in front of everyone else.
A short while later, the whole group set off for the outer edge of the Wasteland, all except for Xiao Rangchen.
The ancient ruins had closed, so all the cultivators in the area were leaving. By evening, the group ran into several teams locked in a fierce battle. To be exact, two teams from great aristocratic clans were fighting against several teams of rogue cultivators.
The rogue cultivators outnumbered the clan disciples two to one, but they had no unity and kept getting in each other's way. Even though their cultivation levels were roughly on par, they were quickly defeated.
Judging by their clothing and the style of their techniques, the two aristocratic clan teams were none other than the Yue Clan from Qingzhou and the Liufeng Clan.
Liufeng Xin recognized right away that the group from his clan were just distant branch members. Since he had taken a Voice and Appearance Pill that completely changed his looks, he didn't bother going out of his way to avoid them.
When the clan disciples spotted Lou Yue's group, they yelled out insults, "Well, well, we just finished beating up a bunch of lowlife trash, and now here come a few more. Why is it that all you common folks are like flies, impossible to chase away?"
Fat Second flew into a rage. "Damn it! Who are you calling lowlife trash?!"
"Whoever's yelling the loudest, that's who we're talking about," the group of clan disciples cackled.
Fat Second was so angry he tried to charge at them, but Big Brother Wei grabbed him and held him back. "Calm down! We're no match for them!"
"Oh, are you that scared already? You're as cowardly as mice, naturally meant to rot in the gutters, hahaha!"
"No, wait, I think they're a bunch of turtles hiding in their shells, probably shivering in there right now!"
"Hahaha!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The most loudmouthed of the jeering disciples were sent flying one after another, whacked hard by a thick wooden staff that had appeared out of nowhere. The staff seemed to have a mind of its own. After knocking down the first batch, it turned around and chased the rest of the group, beating them relentlessly.
Anyone who dared to raise a hand to resist would only get hit harder and more brutally.
"Who! Who's there?! Show yourself if you have the guts!"
Bang!
The man who had shouted was also sent flying. He crashed hard into a boulder and immediately passed out cold.
Fat Second caught sight of that familiar thick cudgel and knew at once that Lou Yue had made her move. He laughed loudly and called out to the others, "Go on talking! Why did you go quiet? Who was it that just called us cowardly turtles? What are you lot now, huh!"
The rest of the noble scions scrambled to huddle together, standing back to back as they kept a wary eye on the elusive thick cudgel that appeared and vanished without a trace.
"Who in the world are you reckless brute! How dare you lay a hand on the clans of Yue and Liufeng? Are you tired of living?!"
"I think you filthy things hiding in the gutter have simply had your fill of living. The noble clans have been far too lenient with you in the past, haven't they!"
"You bunch of lowlife trash not fit to be seen in public!"
The next instant —
A pitch-black bell-shaped cover dropped down from the sky with a thunderous crash, trapping all the huddled people under it.
Lou Yue flicked her finger, sending a sharp ice blade slamming hard against the hollow bell cover.
Dong —!
The deafening chime shot straight up into the clouds, sharp enough to make one's ears throb in pain.
By the time the echo of the chime had faded completely, Lou Yue stowed away her Summoned Vision Artifact. The group of arrogant young noble scions who had been yelling insults a moment earlier were already foaming at the mouth, all knocked out cold on the ground.
"Haha, that was satisfying!" Fat Second burst out laughing. "Those stuck-up noble brats had it coming for them today!"
"Let's go," Lou Yue said, her expression as calm as if she had not been the one to beat up that whole group.
For all the loose cultivators were spitting insults about the noble scions, none of them had dared to strike to kill while the scions were out cold. They had seen far too many cruel examples of the noble clans settling scores long after the fact in the past.
Night soon fell. The untamed wilderness was dark, and the night wind bit deep. Before long, the group stopped to rest.
Several teams of loose cultivators who had been defeated by the noble scions earlier had also followed behind them, keeping a careful distance.
"They're probably scared those noble brats will come back with reinforcements to take revenge, so they're sticking close to us for protection," Big Brother Wei said in a low, solemn voice.
"Ugh," Fat Second sighed. "Most noble scions are incredibly petty and hold grudges."
Right after he said that, he waved his hands frantically at Liufeng Xin. "Ah, girl, I didn't mean your clan! You're different, okay!"
Liufeng Xin waved dismissively. "There are so many loose cultivators here. If we all band together, our strength would be huge, wouldn't it?"
Big Brother Wei shook his head. "It won't work. Since ancient times, loose cultivators have each gone their own way, no more coordinated than a pile of loose sand. People have tried to unite everyone before, but no group ever lasted more than a month before falling apart."
"Cultivation resources are scarce, after all. We've always been in competition with each other, and most of us are at roughly the same cultivation level. No one is willing to take orders from anyone else."
Liufeng Xin and Lou Yue exchanged a glance.
Later on in the story, it was the male lead Xiao Rangchen who gathered all the loose cultivators together and founded the Loose Cultivator Alliance. Relying on the heritage he claimed from an ancient ruin, he trained his followers, and eventually built up the fifth major power that stood toe to toe with the four great noble clans, carving out a bright future for every loose cultivator out there.
Liufeng Xin winked subtly at Lou Yue.
Lou Yue shook her head slightly.
Founding the Loose Cultivator Alliance was a massive undertaking, not something that could be done in a day. She did dislike the four great noble clans, but it was far too early for her to start building her own power base.
They did not chat for much longer before everyone scattered to get some rest.
Liufeng Xin tugged Lou Yue up into a tree far away from the others, and whispered to ask what she and Xiao Rangchen had been doing the night before.
"I fell asleep," Lou Yue answered, completely straightforward.
Liufeng Xin's face fell instantly. "Huh? That's it?"
Lou Yue glanced at her coolly. "What else did you think would happen?"
"Fine then..."
Having failed to dig up any juicy gossip, Liufeng Xin lost all interest. Leaning listlessly against the tree, she settled in to catch up on her beauty sleep.
Lou Yue lifted her eyes, gazing toward the heavy, inky darkness that hung over the depths of the untamed wilderness. After waiting for a while, she closed her eyes.
Deep into the night, all was quiet and still, not a sound disturbed the air.
A vaguely familiar presence drew near. She moved swiftly and silently, gliding out to land a hundred meters away.
"Woof woof."
Qinglin tilted its neck, gesturing for her to look at the small bundle hanging around its neck.
Lou Yue swept her gaze across the surrounding area—there was no one else in sight. Xiao Rangchen was not here.
She bent down to untie the bundle and opened it.
Inside was a carefully carved Wujiu jade statue.
Seeing that the delivery was done, Qinglin flicked its tail, darted off into the darkness, and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Lou Yue stood rooted to the spot, staring at the Wujiu jade in her hand.
The two figures carved on the jade, one on the left and one on the right, were incredibly lifelike.
The figure on the left was her, in a male form, brimming with high spirits and unbridled pride.
The figure on the right was Xiao Rangchen, kneeling on one knee in the pose of offering a humble apology with thorns on his back.
"..."
