He was still speaking the Overseas Language.
Li Fei racked her brains to recall the little Overseas Language she had learned over the past half month, replying haltingly word by word: "Yes, this is your name—Lei Xiuyuan."
Lei Xiuyuan... To be honest, he felt nothing special about these three characters, nor did he have any memories of this extraordinarily beautiful girl who carried an alluring fragrance. Even his instinctive familiarity with the Five Elements Immortal Method and spiritual energy absorption felt more tangible than any recollection of her.
Yet he didn't dislike her. No man would dislike such a stunning woman, especially one who had crossed vast oceans for him.
Lei Xiuyuan studied her for a moment before nodding slowly. "Alright, you may go."
Seeing him turn to leave with his usual decisiveness, Li Fei panicked, her hard-learned Overseas Language vanishing from her mind. She blurted out in their native tongue: "Xiu Yuan, what are your plans? Will you stay on this island from now on?"
Lei Xiuyuan replied quietly, "If you want to stay here, you'd better learn the language properly. Your accent is ridiculous."
...It wasn't like she wanted her accent to sound ridiculous! Li Fei jogged after him: "This language has too many twists and turns, plus all those rolled tongues—it's too hard to learn. Xiu Yuan, if you have time, could you teach me a little?"
Without turning back, he entered the courtyard and tossed over his shoulder: "Learn it yourself. You have a mouth."
He actually said the same thing as Ri Yan... Li Fei could only rub her nose and walk away. What could she say? Though he seemed changed in many ways, at his core so much remained exactly the same—still avoiding trouble, still pushing people away within boundaries that wouldn't make them truly hate him, still indulging in mischief where others would strive to build connections.
The top priority was indeed becoming fluent in the Overseas Language.
Looking up, Li Fei noticed villagers passing by in the distance gazing at her with fiery, worshipful eyes, making her want to laugh. Many islanders believed from birth till death that their island was the entire world. With the temperate climate and abundant resources, their folkways remained remarkably simple—so simple that to troubled Central Land natives like them, it seemed almost foolishly naive.
This must be what they called carefree contentment.
She approached them, gesturing and stumbling through conversations where both parties remained thoroughly confused. If even Ri Yan could master the Overseas Language, she refused to believe she couldn't do the same.
Gradually, the Mountain Spirit girl carrying notebooks and charcoal pencils became a peculiar village spectacle—perched on seaside rocks, field ridges, tree stumps, or by wells... wherever people gathered, she lingered. Often she'd babble incoherent phrases like a toddler learning speech, then bury her head in her notebook to scribble earnestly.
When night fell, unnoticed by anyone, the Mountain Spirit girl would silently return to Still Mountain. At dawn she'd reappear, riding her strange horn-shaped mount, drifting leisurely back to continue her comically mismatched communications with the villagers.The villagers quickly discerned the Mountain Spirit girl's daily routine. Aside from randomly striking up conversations with people, she would often hover high above the Divine Envoy's courtyard on her mount, gazing at him with deep affection. Occasionally, when the Divine Envoy was in a good mood, he might exchange a few words with her, but more often than not, he would coldly ignore her. The villagers couldn't help but feel secretly sympathetic, and more and more people began to grumble about the Divine Envoy's lack of romantic sensibility.
The two parties involved remained oblivious to this. Time flew by, and before they knew it, four months had passed. The seasons on the island didn't change drastically—it was practically spring all year round. Recently, there had just been a few chilly winds and cold rains, but not a single leaf on Still Mountain had turned yellow.
Li Fei was awakened by the cold raindrops falling from the leaves above her. Looking up, she realized it had started raining again. Instinctively, she glanced around—there was still no sign of Ri Yan, the fox. Four months had passed, and he was probably off enjoying himself somewhere.
Yawning, she nimbly leaped down from the tree trunk. For the past four months, she had been sleeping on random large trees, almost forgetting what it felt like to sleep in a bed.
Braving the drizzling cold rain, she made her way to the mountain spring to wash up. Once finished, a glow of flames enveloped her body, instantly drying her rain-soaked clothes and skin. She plucked a large leaf to use as an umbrella, mounted the Horn of the Rhinoceros, and set off with renewed energy toward the village below.
Over these days, she had also figured out a pattern: if the doors and windows of his courtyard were open in the morning, it meant he was already awake. As soon as she arrived, he would come out and exchange a few casual words with her. If they were closed, it meant he was sleeping in—ever since becoming the so-called Divine Envoy, he had grown much lazier.
Today, she seemed to have woken up a bit late. She wondered if Lei Xiuyuan would be waiting for her and if she could talk to him a little longer. Li Fei felt as though she was getting to know Lei Xiuyuan all over again. Before he had fallen for her, his true personality was on full display—and it still captivated her just as deeply, leaving her unable to extricate herself.
She could fall in love with him over and over again. The only question was whether he would fall for her a second time.
Li Fei smiled wryly to herself. Of course, she could wait for him to remember everything. Given a few hundred years, he might recall it all. But that would feel like admitting defeat. She had no way of making Lei Xiuyuan develop feelings for her without the curse of the Graftwood Seed.
The edge of the forest was now in sight. Not wanting to dwell on these thoughts, Li Fei urged the Horn of the Rhinoceros to speed up, darting through the trees like lightning. In the curtain of drizzling rain, a figure seemed to be standing at the village entrance. Her heart skipped a beat, and the Horn of the Rhinoceros slowed abruptly, drifting gently forward.
It was Lei Xiuyuan. Li Fei stared at him in a daze. His hair was still loose, and he wore an outer robe while holding an oil-paper umbrella, standing quietly at the village entrance as if waiting for someone.
"Xiu Yuan," she called out, jumping down from the Horn of the Rhinoceros and walking up to him. In her still somewhat halting Overseas Language, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Lei Xiuyuan noticed the large leaf she held over her head, with glistening droplets cascading from its tip. The sight was rather amusing, and he couldn't help but chuckle, though he tried to suppress his laughter. "Nothing much," he replied.Nothing? Li Fei stared blankly as he shoved the oil-paper umbrella into her hands, then turned and strode resolutely back into the rain. A sudden realization struck her—she hurried after him on tiptoe, holding the umbrella over his head with a smile. "Xiu Yuan, can I see your room? Don’t worry, I won’t mess anything up."
He didn’t say yes, but he didn’t refuse either—so that counted as tacit approval, right? Li Fei tiptoed the whole way, holding the umbrella for him, but after just a few steps, Lei Xiuyuan snatched it back and muttered, "Walk properly."
Seizing the chance, she sidled closer, lightly grasping his sleeve as she looked up at him with an ingratiating smile. "Then I’ll trouble you to hold it."
This girl really knew how to push her luck. Lei Xiuyuan shot her a glance, but he didn’t dislike it—not at all.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, he shook the raindrops from the umbrella before closing the wide-open window from the outside. Li Fei’s sharp eyes had already spotted the puddle of water on the desk beneath the window and the rain-soaked marks on the floor near the door—he must have left the windows and door open, waiting for her for ages before finally giving up and running to the village entrance.
Warmth blossomed in her chest. The hardships of the past few months suddenly felt as light as a feather. He had fought desperately for her for years, while she had merely spent a few months roughing it in the mountains, racking her brains to learn the Overseas Language. It was nothing compared to his sacrifices. She knew Lei Xiuyuan rarely spoke sweet words, but he would pour his entire being into caring for those he loved, even shouldering their worries and pain.
Lei Xiuyuan had once said that meeting her was a blessing from the heavens. He was wrong—meeting him was her blessing.
Following him inside, she took a quick look around. To her surprise, his room was nothing like the sparse, barely furnished spaces he’d occupied at the Academy or No Moon Court. Here, large bookshelves lined the walls, packed with countless volumes. Despite their number, not a speck of dust marred their surfaces—proof that he read them often.
Along the opposite wall beneath the shelves stood several potted plants, all of unfamiliar varieties. One bore a flower as large as a human head, its petals ink-black and exuding a rich fragrance.
Now that he was the Divine Envoy, his clothing and belongings were naturally incomparably finer than before. Even the chairs were inlaid with gemstones, and instead of oil lamps, pearls glowed softly in the corners. The bed was absurdly large, its quilt embroidered with golden thread... Li Fei’s eyes soon grew dizzy from the opulence, so she gave up on the lavish decor and wandered over to inspect the books.
She couldn’t read a single word, but the script wasn’t unfamiliar—it matched the carvings on the stele at the Outlander Tomb. It must be the Overseas Language.
Unable to decipher the books, she turned her attention to the potted plants. "Did the villagers prepare these books and flowers?"
She highly doubted the guileless, almost foolishly naive Restrained Tassel People could have procured such things. The books and flowers clearly weren’t native to their island—literacy was probably nonexistent here, with everything still stuck in a self-sufficient, uncivilized state.Lei Xiuyuan placed a cup of tea on the table and said lightly, "I collected these during my idle time over the past two years while traveling elsewhere. The overseas regions are far vaster than one could imagine. I gathered books from various places—these flowers are legendary things, though they represent only a tiny fraction. Who knows when we'll fully understand everything about the overseas world."
Li Fei held the tea, staring blankly at him. He had spoken in the Overseas Language, and the words were too complex for her to grasp—she heard but didn't understand.
Lei Xiuyuan looked at her with a mix of exasperation and amusement before pulling two books from the shelf. He pointed to the chair in front of him. "Learning only to speak will leave you illiterate in the end. Come sit—I'll teach you the simplest characters first."
This time, she roughly understood his meaning and eagerly scooted over to sit down. She pulled out a charcoal pencil and notebook from her sleeve, putting on a studious expression.
Curious, Lei Xiuyuan picked up the notebook she always carried and flipped through it. The pages were densely filled with Central Land characters—phonetic annotations of Overseas Language pronunciations, each followed by explanations of their meanings. He couldn’t help but chuckle.
"Don’t laugh!" Li Fei snatched the notebook back, flustered and indignant. "How else am I supposed to learn? No one here knows how to read!"
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