The Luodu of today was different from the past.
There was a subtle tension in the palace as Lin Jinyu sat in Ji Nanjue’s Imperial Study Room, silently staring at the low table.
"Empress, there is still no news of the Eastern Emperor!" a woman whispered, walking softly to her side.
Though Lin Jinyu’s heart was in turmoil, she managed to maintain a different deanor on the surface. Her posture was graceful yet dignified, her aura noble and majestic, truly reflecting the bearing of a nation’s mother. She nodded and said, "Mhm, notify imdiately if there is any news."
The woman nodded and then slowly exited the Imperial Study Room, closing the door behind her.
Lin Jinyu stood up, looking out the window at the moonlight; it was dim and without luster.
Nan Jue, you must be alright...
What could possibly happen under heaven to soone at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm?
Queen Lin’s anxiety and exhaustion were not solely due to Ji Nanjue’s disappearance. She desperately wanted to see Ji Nanjue, partly to persuade her own heart and to dilute the image of soone else that was becoming clearer in her mind.
In the vast silence of the palace, Lin Jinyu’s shadow stretched long in the lamplight.
She gently took off her bright red brocade dress and lay on the brocade couch, looking at the flickering candle shadows on the wall.
There was not a hint of sleepiness.
Her phoenix eyes were tightly closed, but it was not Ji Nanjue who appeared in her mind.
She sat up hastily, lightly patted her chest, and muttered to herself, Su Bei, that scoundrel. Nan Jue must punish him severely.
Xiao Ruoching and Sword Maiden Mo Li returned once again to No-Sword Peak.
They looked at the all-too-familiar layout and the thatched cottage, speechless for a long ti.
Liar, Xiao Ruoching muttered to herself.
He had clearly promised to take her to the Southern Border but ended up standing her up.
She flipped through the Sword Scripture in her room, feeling restless. She put down the Sword Scripture, not practicing the Sword Four technique. Instead, she stood up, pushed open the window lattice, and looked at the bright moon.
The bright moon was clear and full, a symbol of reunion. Yet, all this only brought a faint sorrow to Xiao Ruoching instead of joy.
No-Sword Peak was still familiar, but now tinged with strangeness.
It seed that she finally understood that without her master, No-Sword Peak was no longer the sa.
A bitter smile appeared on Xiao Ruoching’s lips. The world in her eyes was becoming increasingly chaotic, and she was unclear about what the future held.
Would the Great Desolation Calamity still exist?
Casting the muddle of thoughts from her mind, she simply stared at the moon for half an hour, growing more wakeful. She then picked up a small jug of wine from sowhere and sat on the roof of the thatched cottage, gazing out at the mountains of the Sword Sect from afar, looking at the peach tree blooming halfway up the mountain.
A quiet voice echoed behind Xiao Ruoching. She turned her head and saw Mo Li in the moonlight, dressed in a long gown the color of moonlight, her silver hair flowing. In her hand, she also held a jug of wine, but unlike Xiao Ruoching, she drank with an airy and aloof grace, her cool gaze shining in the moonlight, brimming with spirit.
"Oh? What a coincidence?" Perhaps because of the few cups of wine she’d had, Xiao Ruoching looked at Mo Li without her usual disdain.
Mo Li glanced at her faintly, her high ponytail fluttering in the night breeze. "Why are you drinking alone here?"
Xiao Ruoching looked at the empty wine jar at Mo Li’s feet and suddenly felt a bit of a headache. She rubbed her forehead, slightly intoxicated. "Why ask when you already know."
For once, Mo Li did not respond sarcastically but instead ca over to Xiao Ruoching’s side and sat down beside her. Her delicate legs gently swayed, shimring in the moonlight.
Xiao Ruoching poured herself a glass of wine. She clinked glasses with her junior sister and downed it all in one gulp. In the cold of winter, the fiery liquor was still icy, instantly penetrating her chest.
"Snow State is not like Jiangnan."
"Early spring, so cold..."
People say drinking to drown sorrows only adds more sorrow. Xiao Ruoching drank out of spite, angry that the man had stood her up. However, she truly didn’t know why Mo Li was drinking this ti.
A cold smile curled on Mo Li’s lips as she twirled a strand of her silver hair. Against the moonlight, a pair of golden phoenix earrings glittered on her silver mane. Yet her gaze remained fixed on the ever-blooming peach blossoms on the mountainside.
It was already broad daylight.
Dongting Stream presented a scene of peace and sunshine. The sky was beautiful, the earth was beautiful, the water was beautiful, and the boat... was also beautiful.
Ji Nanjue felt so pain in certain parts of her body, but it was only superficial. The Spiritual Energy in her ridian channels was more luxuriant than ever before. She didn’t know why, but even the Evil Qi seed to have lessened.
Her arm was sore and tingly. She slowly got up, (...), her white jade-like body dazzling in the sunlight. Her skin emitted a soft glow.
She blinked, rubbing (...) subconsciously. Then she saw Su Bei, still deep in sleep.
Her eyes trembled—
But as she slowly beca lucid during the process, she suddenly realized what she was doing and froze completely.
(...) It seed as if sothing remained within her body. Though she realized what had happened, for a mont, she simply couldn’t accept that reality, leaving Ji Nanjue completely dazed.
Myself... my own?
Gazing out through the window on the small boat at the glistening surface of the river, a tide of mories suddenly flooded her mind.
Various conversations echoed in her ears:
"You, why didn’t you blow out the candles!"
"Then how would I find you?"
"Then why did you just now... stop..."
"Nan Ji, quickly circulate your Spiritual Energy."
—And then, in the swaying candlelight on the boat, shadows flickered.
Indistinct and hazy.
Ji Nanjue was exceptionally shy at this mont. Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red, her embarrassnt barely concealed as she abruptly moved...
"HISS—"
Her phoenix eyebrows knitted slightly as she looked at the man still deep in sleep. Reaching for her white garnt, she intended to cover herself, only to find it in tatters, no longer holding its shape.
—Traces remained on it.
Gritting her teeth, she felt an indignity like never before. She was in pain and weary, and he slept like a pig.
Though she was aware that he had exhausted himself last night trying to save her...
Wait, exhausted himself?! Was that even necessary? Why did he ask to... that, to do that?!
Last night, under the overwhelming force of the Supre Yin Poison and Evil Qi, she was dazed, her head buzzing, not entirely clear-headed... so she just obediently followed his instructions without thought. And towards the end, he seed to have beco addicted.
The more Ji Nanjue thought about it, the angrier she got. Her face turned from white to pink, from pink to red. Then, with a lift of her leg, she kicked towards Su Bei’s face. Her jade feet stomped fiercely onto Su Bei’s face.
Su Bei, who had been sleeping more soundly than ever, was suddenly stepped on the face by sothing and instinctively grabbed it tightly. Sensing that sothing was amiss, he slowly opened his eyes.
What ca into view were Nan Ji’s autumn-water-like eyes. Her phoenix eyebrows were slightly furrowed in anger, and her left hand idly twirled a loose strand of her dark hair, a subtle gesture to mask her underlying nervousness.
"Let go of !!"
And to think I had always considered him a true gentleman, soone I wished I could form a deep, sworn bond with! He... in the end, he was just lusting after my body!
Su Bei then lowered his gaze to realize he was holding onto her jade-like toes and quickly let go, standing up. Reaching out with one of his large hands, he gently grabbed Ji Nanjue’s delicate, fair fingers, which were entwined with strands of hair—smooth and slender with well-proportioned flesh and bone.
Ji Nanjue shivered slightly but didn’t pull back her hand that Su Bei was holding.
Su Bei gave her hand a gentle kiss, looking at the breathtaking woman before him with so distress, and tenderly said, "I’m sorry... This was the only way."
Seeing that Nan Ji was still glaring at him with a pale face, Su Bei took a deep breath, feeling a bit aggrieved. "But you can’t bla it all on . Before, I asked you clearly... and you agreed."
Ji Nanjue instantly felt outraged by his statent, "you agreed."
What does he an, I agreed?
"Terms like ’Desolately Alone,’ ’Conspiring Spirits,’ ’A Lonely Path,’ or ’Sudden Epiphany’? Can you even read those?"
But having spoken, she realized that Su Bei’s gaze wasn’t on her face at all—sothing about his look was very off.
Following his gaze downward, her neck flushed deep red in an instant. She squeezed her legs together tightly, covering them with the white garnt, which was torn by soone unknown.
"You... turn around!!"
Su Bei observed the woman before him, who lacked the cool purity of that previous night. At this very mont, she was like a... it was hard to describe. He turned around, then let out a gentle sigh.
She was a woman, after all.
His heart started to ache, and he pulled out a piece of clothing from his storage ring to cover her with. "I didn’t do it on purpose. You also know about the Supre Yin and Yang, such an extre pure constitution in this world. I really couldn’t control it... In the end, it was totally involuntary."
Su Bei believed that his expression at this mont must have been very sincere.
Eventually, Ji Nanjue returned to her usual deanor. Though she still felt a bit perplexed, she understood looking at the man before her. Back then, he only had that one way, and only by complying could she have been saved.
And wasn’t this what I had hoped for? Why do I feel resistant now, when it actually ca to it? The past is unbearable to look back on.
"Nan Ji... Immortal, how do you feel?"
A sudden question made Ji Nanjue freeze.
Nan Ji? A bitter smile erged at the corner of her mouth. Yes, I am just Nan Ji.
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