A series of blows left Da Jiu motionless, staring blankly at the floor in front of his paws.
Chu Dingjiang took out a handkerchief and handed it to An Jiu.
She accepted it, wiped her hands, and asked, "What do you want to say?"
Chu Dingjiang's style of sweet talk differed from Sheng Changying's. After pondering for a while, he decided to take the "recalling hardships to appreciate present sweetness" approach. He took An Jiu's hand and sincerely began, "A Jiu, meeting you in this lifetime is truly wonderful."
Perhaps because the atmosphere hadn't been properly set, An Jiu froze for a moment, unsure how to respond.
Chu Dingjiang had initially wanted to say something like "I wish to accompany you for a lifetime," but upon reflection, he realized it would sound too abrupt and overly sentimental at this point. So he cut straight to the main topic. "Do you remember our first meeting?"
At the time, Chu Dingjiang hadn't intended to capture her alive and meant no harm, while she had attacked with lethal intent. An Jiu nodded, "Yes, you came to catch me, and I stabbed you."
"That's not the point," Chu Dingjiang ignored this mood-killing remark. "From our first meeting, you surprised me. Despite having no Inner Force, you could hold your own against a Transformation Realm expert. Such uniqueness and excellence made me unable to resist wanting to understand you more."
"I know," An Jiu replied, utterly unaware that the concept of modesty existed in the world.
Chu Dingjiang sighed, feeling this topic was going nowhere, and continued, "Later, when Plum Blossom Village was attacked, I brought you out. You heard about the extermination of Mei Shi's clan but showed neither shock nor distress..."
"I remember," An Jiu nodded. "Later, I gathered all my strength and fought you. It felt much better afterward."
"That's not the point." Chu Dingjiang patted her back and went on, "What mattered was that in that moment, I suddenly discovered another side of you hidden beneath the cold-blooded violence."
An Jiu stiffened slightly before relaxing and wrapping her arms around his waist.
Warmed by her gesture, Chu Dingjiang held her and asked with a smile, "Remember when we fought our way out of Misty Villa together?"
An Jiu fell silent.
Knowing she was lost in memories, Chu Dingjiang didn't rush to interrupt.
After a while, An Jiu said, "I killed eighty-nine experts."
So she'd been counting the bodies all this time!
"That's not the point." Chu Dingjiang, accustomed to her talent for ruining the mood, continued, "What I wanted to say is that during that battle, I realized you were the partner I'd been searching for."
An Jiu paused, frowning. "Because I can kill?"
"No. Because seeing you fight like a mad beast made my heart ache, and I wanted to protect you for the rest of my life." It had taken Chu Dingjiang some time to understand that this wasn't pity—it was love.
Though the two had rarely been on the same wavelength, this time An Jiu strangely aligned with his thoughts. Neither of them was particularly compassionate by nature, but because they loved each other, because they cared, their hearts ached.
"Before, I believed a true man should aspire to conquer the world. Even having a beauty by one's side was merely an embellishment. But somehow, I changed." Chu Dingjiang sighed. "I would set aside urgent matters just because I feared you might be in danger."
Later, he even abandoned things he'd once valued highly just to see her for a moment or spend a little more time with her.
At first, he struggled with this, feeling he was sinking into depravity. It seemed laughable that his lofty ambitions couldn't withstand the test of a beautiful woman. Yet before long, he embraced this "depravity" with relish.Giving up one's ideals for a woman—no matter how you looked at it, it seemed cowardly. Yet Chu Dingjiang no longer cared in the slightest.
"To walk hand in hand with one beloved, why need the world?" Chu Dingjiang said half-jokingly.
"Chu Dingjiang, go back," An Jiu said.
Chu Dingjiang paused slightly.
"Is this really okay?" An Jiu loved the sense of security Chu Dingjiang gave her, but she couldn't bear to see him dim his brilliance and become an unrestrained wanderer of the jianghu. "I feel like you were born for power and strategy."
"A Jiu, I'm old," Chu Dingjiang said softly. "Old at heart."
This was the gap between them. An Jiu was just beginning to search for the meaning of life, while Chu Dingjiang had already weathered the vicissitudes of the world.
From the very moment of his rebirth, Chu Dingjiang had felt no joy in being given a new life. Wealth, family, fame—he cast them all aside without hesitation. He had deceived himself into thinking he could abandon everything and start anew, but in truth, his heart was still filled with resentment, bitter over the sacrifices of his past life. Everything he did was driven by instinct, by unwillingness, while the fiery passion of his youth had long since cooled.
Had he been reborn in the Warring States era, Chu Dingjiang would have undoubtedly sought to turn the tables in his favor. But time had passed, and the past was irreversible. Looking back at the history from the Warring States to the Liao and Song dynasties, he seemed to see through the inevitable patterns of the world's rise and fall. Even the most brilliant strategies could, at best, become mere ripples in the vast river of history—rising and falling in an instant. It all felt meaningless to him.
It wasn’t until he met An Jiu that he gradually began to feel a new vitality within himself. His rebirth truly began at this moment. Perhaps many years later, his fighting spirit would reignite? But for now, he genuinely wanted to let go of everything, to wander the mountains and rivers with the woman he loved, accompanied by a few close friends, and to truly see the world with a relaxed and contented heart—only then would this life not be wasted.
He didn’t voice these thoughts, for no matter how clearly he described them, those who hadn’t experienced it would never truly understand.
"But I..." An Jiu didn’t know how to express what was in her heart.
Chu Dingjiang ruffled her hair, his gaze tender. "Let me guess... you didn’t live long in your past life."
An Jiu nodded.
"Your skills in killing couldn’t have been honed in just a few years. You must have spent your past life either in brutal training or in killing," Chu Dingjiang said, his tone growing even gentler.
In truth, An Jiu’s past life had been largely wasted—aside from mastering her lethal skills, she had been nothing more than a killing machine, devoid of self.
The memories soaked in blood had made her heart fundamentally different from ordinary people. If she wanted to live a normal life, she first needed to rediscover herself, to become a normal person and experience what normal people should.
They were like the setting sun and the breaking dawn—both standing at the intersection of night and day, weren’t they?
Chu Dingjiang remained optimistic. "Do whatever you want to do. I’ll always be by your side. I have my own pursuits too, and they don’t conflict."
"If that’s what you like, then it’s fine." An Jiu’s eyes sparkled as she thought of her future plans. "I want to rebuild the Dragon Martial Guard."
A flicker of concern passed over Chu Dingjiang’s face, but his voice remained calm. "Why?"
"After hearing about the Dragon Martial Guard, I found it very interesting. Besides, this is the only thing I’m good at." An Jiu pondered—there was a difference between a martial organization and martial prevention. "I want to be a good person. The officially recognized kind."Hearing that she wasn't influenced by the lingering thoughts in Gu Jinghong's heartblood, Chu Dingjiang slightly relaxed, "Good, keep working hard. But before that, quickly go settle the Bounty Board matter."
"Okay," An Jiu replied.
"Do you want me to accompany you?" Chu Dingjiang asked.
An Jiu shook her head.
Chu Dingjiang felt somewhat displeased. "We should have found someone to handle that job immediately back then."
At that time, Chu Dingjiang had been very busy and delayed for some days. Later, An Jiu somehow decided she wanted to do it herself. Seeing it wasn't a major task, he readily left it for her to handle. Now thinking back, he felt slightly regretful.
As he pondered, Chu Dingjiang suddenly felt embarrassed—weren't they just exchanging sweet words earlier?
"By the way, I previously promised Sui Yunzhu I'd help him find a wife. He prefers someone more feisty. Since you've been free lately, why don't you help with this?" An Jiu had new plans but still remembered the unfinished "project" she hadn't been able to complete. (To be continued...)
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