The candle flame trembled softly in the pavilion, its dim yellow light flickering between the beams and pillars.
A faint trace of agarwood incense lingered in the air, mingling with the cool night breeze that slipped through the cracks in the window.
Lou Chengfeng raised a hand and scrubbed it hard over his face, barely managing to pull himself out of his earlier grief. “In any case, we absolutely cannot let anyone find out about your Zhuoxi Physique.”
“For now, that boy only thinks you’re an ordinary cultivation cauldron. There’s still room to turn things around. Take this opportunity to cut ties with him.”
Lou Yue did not answer. She merely sat in the shifting candlelight, her emotions hidden beyond the reach of the flames.
Lou Chengfeng’s tone was grave. “Your father knows you’re proud and trust in your own abilities, but the human heart is something no one can control.” He had to admit that Xiao Rangchen’s temperament was decent enough—but what about the future?
Lou Yue lifted her eyes, her gaze pale and calm. “After all these years, have your feelings for Mother changed?”
Lou Chengfeng blurted out, “Of course not!”
“Oh? Then how do you know his feelings will change?”
Lou Chengfeng frowned at her for taking an outsider’s side, his brows immediately drawing together. “Can he compare to your father? I’m the world’s finest man—the kind you couldn’t find anywhere under heaven!”
The corner of Lou Yue’s eye twitched visibly.
Lou Chengfeng’s frown deepened. “Are you truly determined to be with him?”
“I only know that if I give up because of this, I’ll regret it.” Lou Yue’s usually calm voice carried an unmistakable resolve. “I don’t want to regret it.”
The pavilion fell silent for a time, the candlelight stretching their shadows long across the floor.
“And don’t even think about breaking up this pair of lovers,” Xuanba said coldly. “You once suffered from your own family’s lack of understanding. Why force her to go through the same thing?”
Lou Chengfeng had been struck where it hurt. For a moment, he was left speechless.
After a long while, he drew a deep breath, as though making an enormous concession. “Fine. I won’t stop you. But don’t get any ideas about using the Golden Lotus of Birth to help him ascend to the Divine God Realm!”
Lou Yue cast him a sidelong glance.
Lou Chengfeng still did not dare relax. In the past, she had committed no shortage of unexpected acts. “And don’t let him find out that you possess the Zhuoxi Physique. Do you hear me?”
This time, Lou Yue gave a lazy hum in response.
Lou Chengfeng continued warning her, “Don’t use Heaven and Earth Manifestation in front of outsiders, and don’t let the four great clans discover that you’re a woman. You can’t fight them alone.”
For thousands of years, the most powerful female cultivation cauldron in the Lou family had reached only the Void Refinement Realm. There had never been one who attained the Divine Transformation Realm. He did not dare imagine what those who had remained stuck in the Divine Transformation Realm for years—or those facing their death tribulations—would do if they discovered that Lou Yue was a woman. They might resort to any sort of sinister, filthy methods.
His brows were tightly knitted, worry impossible to conceal in his eyes.
Unexpectedly, Lou Yue merely said in a calm, almost casual tone, “Then I won’t be alone. I’ve disliked them for a long time.”
Lou Chengfeng froze.
Before he could recover, Lou Yue had already risen and turned to leave.
He hurriedly caught hold of her. “What does that mean?”
Lou Yue deliberately kept him in suspense. “Since you’re the world’s finest man, why don’t you figure it out yourself?”
After Lou Yue left, Lou Chengfeng turned around and stared incredulously at Xuanba, then at the portrait. “Was she really talking back to her own father for that brat?”
Xuanba slowly climbed down from the table. “Or perhaps she simply wanted to talk back to you. Who told you to keep it from her for so long? When has your daughter ever been willing to suffer a loss?”
Lou Chengfeng: “…”
Lou Yue returned to the front of her room.
Her hand rested on the door. After thinking for a moment, she did not push it open. Instead, she turned and went down the mountain.
When she reached halfway down the slope, she spotted a man meditating in a tree amid the swaying shadows of the branches. She raised a brow. “Are you planning to turn into a wild man, hiding up there?”
The man in the tree lowered his eyes to look at her. Moonlight fell across his cold, handsome brow. “Then will you come up to the wild man’s nest?”
“It looks uncomfortable. No.”
The moment the words left her mouth, the man leaped down from the treetop.
The wind stirred by the night lifted the loose strands of hair from his forehead, and his robes fluttered lightly as he landed within arm’s reach of her.
He lowered his eyes, his voice deep. “Then I’ll come to your nest.”
Lou Yue decided that she had underestimated him when she said his skin was thicker than the city walls. There was no way city walls could compare with him.
Xiao Rangchen found a clean patch of grass and had Lou Yue sit down. He then settled beside her.
“Unhappy?”
Lou Yue did not know how he had noticed. She thought she had hidden it well. She had even smiled just moments ago.
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze rested on the lingering dimness in the depths of her eyes. “Have I caused you trouble?”
Lou Yue shook her head.
She looked toward the fireflies drifting sparsely through the night, their points of light appearing and vanishing, and asked softly, “Xiao Rangchen, what kind of person was your mother?”
The faint chirping of insects mingled with the mountain breeze, flowing through the hills beneath the moonlight.
Xiao Rangchen’s voice slowly rang out.
“My mother was gentle by nature. She spoke softly and took meticulous care of everyone in the family. When I was young, she often held me in her arms and quietly told me that a family staying safe and together was worth more than anything else. She had no great ambitions or wishes. She only hoped that we would live without disaster or hardship and pass our lives in peace.”
He paused. “And your mother…”
“Yes, she left us very early.” Lou Yue gazed at the fireflies disappearing into the distance, her voice light. “I have almost no memory of her. People rarely mention her either, but traces of her are everywhere in our home. It feels as though… she never truly left.”
“My father probably feels the same way. No matter what others said, he never married again. He actually… missed my mother very much.”
“Since I was little, I’ve seen him many times sitting alone before my mother’s portrait late at night. He never said a word. He would simply sit there and look at her.”
She turned to the person beside her. “Xiao Rangchen, do you believe people have past and future lives?”
Lou Yue had never believed in such things before. But now, she wanted to.
“I believe it. I believe my father and mother must meet again in some other world, fall in love all over again, and grow old together.”
Xiao Rangchen raised a hand and brushed his fingertip very lightly across her cheek. “Mm. They certainly will.”
The dimness in Lou Yue’s eyes faded, replaced little by little with a glimmer of light.
Xiao Rangchen’s fingertip brushed beneath her eye.
Suddenly, a muddled roar came from beneath the tree beside them. Blackfur, fast asleep, was probably fighting over something in a dream, roaring again and again.
Lou Yue crooked a finger and flicked it, scaring Blackfur awake on the spot.
Blackfur gazed around in a daze. Before long, it hugged Whitefur and went back to sleep, the two of them soon snoring one after another.
Lou Yue clicked her tongue. “How has something this stupid managed to survive? It ate two of my spirit fruits, and it’s as if they did nothing.”
Xiao Rangchen let out a muffled laugh.
“When I returned, they were being chased by a demon eagle, and their nest had already been destroyed.”
He tucked the wind-tousled curls beside Lou Yue’s cheek behind her ear. “So, merciful Young Master Yue, don’t hold it against them for revealing your secret.”
Lou Yue shot him a glance. “You’re actually taking their side.”
“After all, I still need their help to infiltrate the organization from within.”
Lou Yue: “...You’ve certainly planned this well.”
Xiao Rangchen’s chest trembled with a quiet laugh, his eyes holding a faint smile. Then he sighed softly once more.
Lou Yue knew perfectly well what he was sighing about. She stood and grabbed Xiao Rangchen by the wrist, pulling him to his feet as well. “Come on. I’ll take you to get something to eat.”
Lou Yue led him all the way down the mountain.
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze rested on her finely sculpted profile, then drifted down to the pale, slender fingers wrapped around his wrist.
He applied the slightest pressure with his fingertips, guiding her hand from his wrist into his palm until their hands were clasped together.
Lou Yue did not look back, but the smile at the corners of her lips rose little by little despite herself.
Feeling the warmth of her hand in his palm, Xiao Rangchen’s expression softened as well.
Lou Yue led Xiao Rangchen to the city at the foot of the mountain. The city gates were already closed, but a few places inside still shone brightly with lamplight.
She pulled Xiao Rangchen into a shop selling soup and flatbread and took a seat.
“Boss, two bowls of beef soup and two flatbreads.”
“Coming right up!”
With obvious excitement, Lou Yue said, “I passed by this place last night and wanted to try it as soon as I smelled the food. Unfortunately, I had three people draped over me.”
Xiao Rangchen’s gaze swept over the brightly lit pavilion beside them, its air heavy with alluring fragrance, before slowly returning.
The steaming beef soup and flaky flatbreads were soon brought to the table. The aroma wafted toward them. Since Lou Yue’s right hand had yet to be freed, she picked up the bowl with her left and took a large sip.
She failed to notice Xiao Rangchen watching her and looked up at him. “Hurry up and try it.”
Xiao Rangchen’s fingertips brushed over Lou Yue’s wrist. He was just about to speak when a charmingly soft male voice suddenly came from beside them.
“Young Master Yue?”
Lou Yue turned her head but did not recognize the man.
He was dressed in pink, with fair skin and a soft, lilting voice that ended every sentence with a teasing note. “It’s me. I danced for you last night.”
“Cough—cough, cough—” Lou Yue choked on her soup and immediately began hacking.
Still coughing, she hurriedly turned back around. “Y-you’ve got the wrong person—cough, cough…”
Xiao Rangchen reached out and patted her on the back.
“How could I possibly be mistaken? With Young Master Yue’s elegance, a person like you is rarely seen in this city even once in several years. How could I mistake you?” As he spoke, the man tried to come over and sit with them.
Xiao Rangchen raised his eyes and gave him a cool glance.
The look seemed faint, yet it was icy and razor-sharp, carrying such oppressive force that the dancing lamplight around them appeared to dim for an instant.
At that single glance, the man no longer dared take another step forward.
But he was unwilling to give up. Bracing himself against the suffocating pressure of that gaze, he hurriedly tossed out one last line. “Young Master Yue, remember to come find me again. I know plenty of other tricks too. I’m sure I can make you happy~”
Lou Yue gritted her teeth. “I don’t know you. Go away!”
Even after the man had walked all the way back to the brightly lit pavilion, looking over his shoulder three times with every step, Lou Yue still did not dare glance at the person beside her.
Xiao Rangchen remained silent as well.
It was only a dance, after all. Besides, she had barely paid attention to him that night. There was no reason for her to feel guilty and uneasy here.
After a while, Lou Yue completed an entire round of mental preparation. She looked up at him and said with forced composure, “He’s not as good-looking as you. Really.”
Xiao Rangchen lowered his eyes and lifted his bowl, taking a small sip of the hot soup.
Only after slowly swallowing did he raise his gaze again. His tone was so even that it was impossible to tell whether he was pleased or angry. “Is that so?”
Lou Yue immediately emphasized, “How could he compare with you? He looks so frail he might blow away in the wind. I like your type.”
“What type am I?” he asked, watching her quietly, his gaze deep and unreadable.
Lou Yue clenched her teeth and decided to throw caution to the wind. “The type with abs!”
The corners of Xiao Rangchen’s lips lifted slightly.
For some reason, Lou Yue let out a breath of relief.
Yet in the next moment, he asked, “What else?”
Lou Yue glared at him. “What else could you possibly want? Drink your soup!”
He said nothing, but the pressure of his thumb rubbing over her wrist gradually increased.
After a moment, he finally spoke, his voice so low it seemed to melt into the night. “Don’t go to places like that again.”
Lou Yue felt a faint numbness spread through her wrist.
She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t even recognize him.”
Xiao Rangchen looked at her, his tone serious to the point of stubbornness. “That still doesn’t make it all right.”
Lou Yue could not help laughing. “Xiao Rangchen, be reasonable.”
He leaned slightly toward her, his gaze settling deep into her eyes. “I can’t be reasonable with you.”
Lou Yue: “…”
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