Li Fei remained silent, merely raising her head to quietly gaze at the two slender horns on the sides of his head.
Lei Xiuyuan touched his own horns and spoke softly, "Don't like them? I can put them away."
Her eyes shifted to meet his face, locking with his dark pupils for a long moment. Lei Xiuyuan smiled gently and said, "That weapon spirit just now was sent by Cui Xuan. It's been tailing us ever since we left No Moon Court. I managed to shake it off once near Star Rectitude Hall, but it caught up again by the Eastern Sea."
Still, she said nothing, only staring at him in silence. Her once lively eyes were now dull and gray.
Brushing the sand from her hair, Lei Xiuyuan murmured, "Li Fei, who else do you hate? Don't be afraid."
Everything that caused her worry and fear—he would personally shatter it all.
Hate? The person she hated most was herself—the weak, evasive self who always relied on others.
Her Master had long wished for her to be more independent. He often said, "If one day I'm no longer here, and you can still live well on your own, then you'll truly be a good child."
Back then, she would reply, "If you're gone, I'll come find you."
Her Master would flare up in anger, "Find me, my foot! If I die, will you follow me to the grave? All these years raising you for nothing! Even if you're a girl, you can't expect to depend on others for everything, can you? Storms come without warning. Look at those clinging vines—when the tree dies or the wall collapses, can they survive?"
Young as she was, the thought of her Master growing old and leaving her one day would fill her with sorrow, and she'd struggle to hold back tears. Her Master would pat her forehead and sigh, "Why be sad? You're still so young! When you grow up, meet more people, make some friends, find a good Master—who knows, maybe some blind fool will fight tooth and nail to treat you well and stay with you forever. That's when life truly begins. I raised you strong and sturdy, not so you could cling to this place forever. The world is vast. It's good that you value emotions, but wiping your tears and standing tall again—that's my Xiao Bangchui."
Stand tall? She was a girl, after all. But did being a woman mean she could deceive herself?
There had been many signs and details she'd failed to notice—or rather, she'd avoided noticing, evading all painful truths, as if the world would bend to her wishes simply because she willed it. If she believed her Master was alive, then he must be fine, and they would surely reunite. If she ignored her origins, never spoke of them, never sought to understand, then she would remain safe, an ordinary girl.
She had lived in a delusion of self-deception and dependence on others. The pain she felt now was the price of her fragility. Yet no matter how much she hated herself, her Master had still died for this incapable version of her.
Who would be next? Lei Xiuyuan, who fought desperately to suppress her anomalies? Ri Yan, who chose to conceal everything for her peace of mind? Ji Tongzhou, who dared to confront Celestials? Master Chongyi? Zhao Min Shijie? Ge Lin?...It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. A faint, clear blue began to emerge along the distant line where the sea met the sky, but soon that hint of dawn was obscured by dark clouds. The impending Sea Fall made the weather over the Eastern Sea unpredictable—one moment it was clear and bright, the next it was pouring rain.
The two of them were quickly drenched. Lei Xiuyuan felt the person in his arms stir, her reddened eyes once again fixed on the side of his head where the slender horns had been. Now there was nothing—just rain-soaked hair clinging to his ears, droplets trickling down one by one.
He touched the spot lightly and murmured, "You didn’t like them, so I took them back."
Li Fei’s voice was hoarse. "...You are..."
He smiled faintly, his tone calm. "I just found out I’m a Yaksa. What now? It seems we both really came from beyond the sea."
What would her reaction be? Sudden realization? Disgust? Complete disbelief? Whatever it was, he would accept it without hesitation.
He had wanted to keep this truth from her, but she had discovered it anyway. When he saw her on the verge of shedding her shell, he couldn’t tell whether his heart was filled with wild joy or sorrow. But he knew Li Fei’s deepest wish—she longed for the warmth of all emotions. This shedding was born from her self-punishing mindset, not her true desire.
In the end, he chose to bring her back to this body. Instinct roared within him—he had crossed the vast ocean, braving the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea for this person, not to watch her live an ordinary life forever. He wrestled with another unseen version of himself—was this love, or was it the possessive grip of a captor?
No memories, no origin, no destination. He was a misfit in this world, observing everything with cold detachment, unmoved. The human heart demanded balance—what was given must be taken in return. He understood this well.
Yet there were still people and places worth remembering. The little hut at the foot of Star Rectitude Hall, bathed in morning sunlight, the portrait of the Celestial shimmering in the light, the crooked tree at the base of the mountain, the hues of dusk, the anticipation in each breath. These were things he could never forget.
And then there was the lingering fragrance of wisteria in the Academy, that rough little girl who acted more like a man. At first, she had been unbearable—constantly frowning, bluntly accusing him of cowardice and incompetence, even questioning his manhood with harsh words. More than once, he had nearly lost his temper and wanted to strangle her.
Later, she asked him why he had suddenly stopped doing bad things. He truly didn’t know. When he decided to give it up, the feeling was the same as when he refused to forget Brother Lu—some people, some things, shouldn’t be treated with cold, rigid rules. In a world of black and white, they were color, impossible to erase.
He loved her. He loved her so much. He didn’t want to be apart from her for a single moment, didn’t want to see even a trace of distress in her. To get closer to her, to be even closer, he would fight with everything he had.
But at some point, this desire to protect her to the extreme slowly twisted into a need to possess her. The further it went, the stronger the urge became—until he wished he could lock her away inside himself. He didn’t want her to have a single thought of her own, didn’t want her eyes to look anywhere else. If only he could hide her away, make her belong to him and only him forever—how wonderful that would be.He gradually couldn't distinguish whether he loved her or simply wanted to possess her. This strange instinctive impulse made him wary, puzzled, and utterly helpless.
At times, he felt as though he'd been searching for something, yet couldn't recall what it was. Only by her side could the subconscious restlessness be calmed. To hide her, protect her, remove all obstacles for her—to make her completely his. She wouldn't need to think or worry, only to look at him and belong to him.
He was straying from his original feelings for her. To love her was to wish for her to become better, not to turn her into his possession.
Why? When had he become so torn? Tossing and turning between love and possession.
Back in the Eastern Sea, the Mirage Dragon's illusions had ensnared each of them, leaving them haunted and unable to break free. He had never spoken of his own visions. Before that, he hadn't known his greatest fear wasn't losing her or her not loving him—but that she had never existed in this world at all.
He dreamed of sitting alone beneath a colossal tree spanning heaven and earth, eternally isolated, all desires unfulfilled.
Upon waking, he was baffled. But now, he finally understood—understood the nature of his possessive heart, understood everything about himself.
Eighteen years of life had passed like a dream. Now, as if waking from a deep slumber, the mist before his eyes dissipated, and he saw everything with perfect clarity.
The person in his arms seemed to tremble slightly. Lei Xiuyuan silently twirled her rain-drenched hair between his fingers, remembering that long-ago afternoon in Green Mound. Back then, his love for her had been pure—just a boy wanting to be good to a girl, unrelated to background or possessiveness.
He had only wanted her to be carefree.
But my dear girl, how can I make you smile again now?
Li Fei suddenly wrapped her arms around him, burying her rain-soaked head against his equally drenched chest.
"Feeling better?" Lei Xiuyuan brushed aside the wet hair clinging to her neck and asked softly.
She neither nodded nor shook her head. The body in her arms was achingly familiar yet strangely foreign. But no matter what he was, he was still just Lei Xiuyuan.
She would protect him. This time, she refused to deceive herself any longer.
Ji Tongzhou followed the dragonfly demon through the storm back to Baili Gelin's courtyard. Drenched and panting, his snow-white robes were stained with the black blood of countless monstrous creatures.
"Still no sign of them," he wiped the water from his face, his complexion pale. "Near the shore, I sensed many surges of abrupt Demon Qi—extremely powerful. Could the Seal at the Trial Grounds have broken?"
His words darkened the expressions of everyone in the courtyard. Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan had suddenly disappeared. At first, they'd assumed the pair had found a quiet spot for themselves, so no one paid it much mind. But then they failed to return all night.
Truthfully, if anyone else had gone missing, they likely wouldn't have been too concerned. But Li Fei was rarely this impulsive. Since childhood, she'd always been the steady one. Even if Lei Xiuyuan acted recklessly, she would never follow him to such extremes. Vanishing overnight without a word simply wasn't like her.Ye Ye had more concerns: "Chang Yue mentioned that many elder Celestials have arrived near the Eastern Sea these past two days, likely due to the Sea Fall. Could it be that Zhen Yunzi's matter has been exposed? Have the two of them been captured?"
Ji Tongzhou frowned. "It couldn't have happened that quickly. Zhen Yunzi has spent very little time at Star Rectitude Hall in recent years. It's common for him to be absent for years at a time."
Besides, he was already a former elder. The sect's elders wouldn't pay as much attention to him as before.
Baili Gelin summoned the Centipede demon. She was the most anxious—if Li Fei and the others encountered any mishap near the Eastern Sea, how could she face this sorrowful place every day in the future?
"I'll go search again!" She was about to leap onto the demon when two figures suddenly flickered through the heavy rain and landed before the group in the blink of an eye. It was none other than Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan, who had been missing all night.
Both of them looked worse for wear, drenched from head to toe. Li Fei even had sand and mud in her hair, but thankfully, there were no visible injuries. Baili Gelin rushed forward anxiously. "Where have you been?! Did you encounter a Monstrous creature or—"
Li Fei replied calmly, "We ran into some trouble. Let me think about how to explain it to you. Just wait a moment."
Everyone stared in shock as the two entered the house. Baili Gelin was about to follow when suddenly, the courtyard gate was knocked twice. The group tensed and turned in unison, only to see a tall man dressed in Eastern Sea attire standing at the entrance. With his sharply arched brows and imposing demeanor, he cut an exceptionally heroic figure—it was none other than Lu Li, whom they hadn't seen in a year.
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