Later, their voices gradually faded until there was complete silence.
Li Fei was stunned for a long time. Was that man Lu Li? When they bid farewell last year, both Ye Ye and Chang Yue had been at ease—Lu Li was older than them, steady and proper in character. Everyone felt reassured with him taking care of Ge Lin. They had thought Lu Li might straighten out some of Ge Lin’s twisted tendencies, but instead, the two of them seemed to have spiraled even further into eccentricity. If Chang Yue found out, she’d probably be exasperated to death.
Lei Xiuyuan’s sleeping breaths brushed against her hair, tickling her. Unable to resist, she turned over but accidentally woke him. Immediately, his hands clamped around her waist, as if he wanted to squeeze her in half.
Li Fei could barely breathe. She soothingly grasped Lei Xiuyuan’s hands. Ever since they had truly become cultivation partners, he had been like this almost every night—unwilling to be separated from her for even a moment. Sometimes, if she woke suddenly in the middle of the night, she could even feel his grip tightening to the point where her ribs ached.
He had an unusual possessiveness toward her. It hadn’t been so obvious before, but after she felt their hearts were aligned and everything was perfect, it had become increasingly pronounced—especially at times like this.
“What are you thinking about?” Lei Xiuyuan’s voice was still thick with sleep.
She didn’t know how to talk to him about Ge Lin. Lei Xiuyuan had never been a good person to discuss such matters with, and what he had said earlier had given her much to ponder. He held her so tightly she could barely breathe, so she simply shook her head. “Nothing.”
Lei Xiuyuan’s arms abruptly tightened, and she gasped in pain. He immediately loosened his grip. After a long pause, he seemed to let out a faint sigh, his palm covering her head as he kissed her forehead. “...Sorry.”
Li Fei turned to look at him. His eyes were unfathomably deep in the darkness, and she couldn’t decipher what lay hidden within them.
“What are you sorry for?” she asked.
Lei Xiuyuan shook his head without answering, tucking the blanket around her before murmuring, “Alright, go back to sleep.”
Li Fei grabbed his hand. “Xiu Yuan, did you kill Qin Yangling? Are you alright?”
The last time he had engaged in magical combat with Qin Yangling, he had ended up severely injured and near death. This time, he seemed completely unharmed. Instinctively, she wanted to release spiritual energy to examine his Eight Extraordinary Meridians—this man was too good at toughing things out. She didn’t want him to have any hidden wounds again.
But he swiftly pushed her hand away. “If you’re not sleeping, we could do something else.”
She hurriedly stammered, “I’ll sleep, I’ll sleep.”
Having only recently tasted sweetness, she preferred to take things in moderation and couldn’t handle such insatiable greed. Lei Xiuyuan chuckled softly and patted her head. He had been acting strangely today—unusually so. Li Fei burrowed under the blanket, casting him a drowsy glance. He had been watching her silently, not speaking, just gazing down at her.
She closed her eyes and, after a long while, slowly drifted into sleep.
In her dreams, she felt as though she had returned to her childhood, clumsily practicing calligraphy with a brush. Her master was stingy—he wouldn’t even buy her a proper calligraphy copybook. Instead, he wrote the characters she needed to learn on paper and made her practice from those.
Her master was left-handed, so his writing slanted to the right. As she practiced, her strokes began slanting the same way, and soon her hands and sleeves were sticky with ink stains. When her master saw her by nightfall, he scolded her angrily, “Practicing calligraphy and you’re covered in ink! Are you playing with ink or writing?”She handed him the results of her day's writing. The Master's brows relaxed as he flipped through the childish scrawl page by page. Noticing how the characters slanted increasingly to the right toward the end, he sighed: "They say children imitate what they see. My writing tilts, so yours follows suit. This won't do."
The next day, the Master reluctantly bought her a specialized calligraphy practice book. True enough, her writing never slanted again after that. When in good spirits, he would hold her and tease her playfully, often musing: "What will you become when you grow up? I wonder if I'll live to see it."
Innocent, she asked: "Why wouldn't you see it?"
The Master laughed: "Because you're a child, while your Master is already an old man. If I could live to see you grow up, nothing would make me happier."
Now she had grown up, even found a cultivation partner. Where was her Master? Could he see her? Surely he could. When she became stronger, when her Master was willing to see her again, she would bring Lei Xiuyuan along for their reunion. The three of them could live together in Green Mound.
Li Fei smiled and turned over in her sleep, drifting into a dream where she seemed to return to that mountain cliff. Zhen Yunzi stood before her, covered in blood. Strangely, he wasn't looking at her but had his hands behind his back as he gazed at the vast sea below the cliff. After a long silence, he sighed: "A lifetime of cultivation—smooth in the first half, troubled in the latter. I was led astray by the Nine-tailed Fox for too long, yet even in death I find no peace. I regret, oh how I regret... Among all living beings, is there anyone without regrets?"
Then he turned to face her, his eyes burning with confusion and fervor as he whispered: "You... what exactly are you?"
Li Fei replied calmly: "I'm nothing special, just an ordinary person."
Zhen Yunzi chuckled coldly, his figure dissipating like green smoke, his voice fading: "Once fangs are bared, they can never be hidden again. Can you truly remain ordinary?"
Fangs? Li Fei fell silent. There had always been people around her willing to care for her, to shield her from harm. Over the years, every crisis had been averted, and she had grown accustomed to this luck, to relying on others. Facing Zhen Yunzi head-on was the first time in her life—he was right. For the first time, she had bared her fangs, mercilessly tearing apart the enemy before her.
She even found it natural. The first time she killed, the first time she absorbed spiritual energy, she felt no discomfort. In her subconscious, it all seemed so inevitable, as if she should have done it long ago.
Li Fei slowly walked to the edge of the cliff, gazing at the boundless sea. Beyond its horizon lay her origin, though she didn't know if it would be her destination.
A massive boulder stood at the cliff's edge. She couldn't help but look up at it closely. The characters carved into it were slender and sharp, slanting to the right—a style she knew all too well.
Her heart suddenly raced. In a blink, it was as if she had returned to the Outlander Tomb, where Qing Cheng Xian Ren's withered corpse lay before her. His bony hand gripped her wrist like an iron shackle. Startled and terrified, she stared at his skeletal face, unrecognizable as human—until suddenly, it transformed into the familiar, white-bearded old man she had missed day and night.He playfully winked at her, and Li Fei jolted awake in shock, only to find the room brightly lit with Lei Xiuyuan no longer by her side. Outside the window, the chattering laughter of Baili Gelin and Su Wan filled the air—had Su Wan already arrived?
An inexplicable fear left her limbs weak, her entire body drenched in cold sweat. Li Fei sat dazed for a long while before suddenly scrambling to dress and put on her shoes. She pushed the door open to find the entire group gathered in the courtyard. The three men—Ye Ye, Ji Tongzhou, and Lei Xiuyuan—likely overwhelmed by Gelin and Su Wan's incessant chatter, had retreated to a nearby pavilion to drink tea and chat. Ye Ye's expression had finally returned to its usual calm, though he couldn't help glancing around every now and then, searching for Baili Changyue.
Baili Gelin and Su Wan seemed to have an endless stream of things to talk about, while Changyue sat beside them, listening with a smile. Noticing Li Fei had finally emerged, Baili Gelin immediately teased, "You lazy pig, it's almost afternoon! Finally decided to wake up?"
Li Fei stared blankly at them, forcing a weak smile. Su Wan, seeing her pale face and reddened eyes, gasped, "What's wrong? Didn't sleep well?"
Li Fei rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "It's nothing."
Baili Gelin rushed over and grabbed her arm. "You're finally awake! I've been waiting forever—I'm dying to know! Tell me, how did you kill Zhen Yunzi?"
Li Fei's mind was elsewhere. She averted her gaze and said, "Didn't Changyue scold you? Your chatter woke me up."
Baili Gelin grinned, while Changyue said gently, "As long as you're alive."
This time, each of them had brushed with death, and their perspectives had inevitably shifted.
Baili Gelin continued eagerly, "And where did Qin Yangling end up? Also, Zheng Xu Zhang Lao's body disappeared too! And—and who healed our injuries? Li Fei, why aren't you answering me? Tell me about Zhen Yunzi!"
Ji Tongzhou frowned. "Can't you ask one question at a time?"
Baili Gelin stuck her tongue out at him. "And another thing! What was that black fire of yours? I've been wanting to ask forever!"
Ji Tongzhou ignored her, pretending not to hear as he sipped his tea.
Ye Ye, perceptive as ever, noticed the evasiveness surrounding Qin Yangling and Zheng Xu Zhang Lao's fates. When he asked Lei Xiuyuan, the latter only said Qin Yangling was dead, while Li Fei vaguely mentioned killing Zhen Yunzi. Ji Tongzhou remained tight-lipped about the black fire. Clearly, there were things none wished to discuss. Ye Ye smiled and interjected, "Regardless, the biggest threat is gone—that's what matters. Who cares how it happened? Leaving the sect feels like a weight off my shoulders."
He then patted Ji Tongzhou's shoulder and added quietly, "We never told you about Zhen Yunzi because we didn’t want to put you in an awkward position at Star Rectitude Hall. Never thought you’d get dragged into it anyway."
Ji Tongzhou seemed lost in thought and merely shook his head silently.
As the group chatted and laughed in the courtyard, the sky suddenly darkened. A fierce wind rose, and soon, hailstones began to fall. Su Wan, visiting the Eastern Sea for the first time, exclaimed in surprise, "Does it hail here as early as August?"Just moments ago, it had been the height of summer, yet now it was turning cold—she had never seen such drastic weather changes before.
Baili Gelin shook her head with a bitter smile. "Sea Fall is coming. It's been like this every day lately—summer in the morning, winter by afternoon. Master told me this is just the beginning. Soon, the sea levels will start dropping, and the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea will sweep through here first. The Great Demons and Ferocious Beasts from the ocean will also pass through this area. Last time Sea Fall came, the Mountain Sect didn’t cooperate, and many disciples died. This time, they’ll probably send the disciples to the Mountain Sect’s side."
When they had last visited, Sea Fall was still just a legend. Yet in just a year, it had truly arrived. The Eastern Sea showed the most anomalies, and even the Demons in the Trial Grounds were affected, instinctively trying to flee toward the heart of the Central Land. The Ocean Sect elders had been busy reinforcing the Seals lately, all of them overwhelmed.
"Let’s make the most of this trip and enjoy ourselves. Soon, none of us disciples will be allowed near the Eastern Sea again. Who knows when we’ll get to see its scenery next?" Baili Gelin said with a laugh.
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