Guardian spirit?

Forever?

For a moment, Guxi couldn’t quite process what these words meant. He frowned, looking at Baili Xiaosheng.

Baili Xiaosheng was grinning like a fool—but no matter how widely she smiled, it couldn’t hide the fact that her face was flushed as red as an apple.

Of course, that was just her nature. Even blushing, she still lifted her chin resolutely, facing the man before her head-on. Embarrassed, yes—but not afraid.

“Well? Yes or no?” she asked, word by word, seriously, even with a faint note of challenge in her tone.

Guxi came to his senses belatedly, turning her words over in his mind. His usually deep, unreadable eyes now seemed veiled in a thin mist, bottomless as the deep sea, the kind no one dared look straight into.

Yet Baili Xiaosheng dared. She stared straight at him, stubbornly determined to see through all that darkness, straight down into the depths of his heart.

Their eyes locked for a long, long moment, but Guxi still gave her no answer.

Baili Xiaosheng, however, wasn’t easily discouraged. She lifted her brows and smiled. “There’s just the one condition. If you don’t agree, I’ll never kill Shiliang!”

Of course she knew about the unforgettable history between him and Shiliang. Just this evening, in the secret chamber, she’d seen the wistfulness in his eyes as well.

But she didn’t mind.

As if she’d stoop to competing with a poison-preserved corpse for a man’s affection! That corpse’s life and death were entirely in her hands!

This man—she wanted him. And at the same time, that corpse—she wanted to destroy it, utterly, so it vanished from this world forever.

That was the kind of overbearing woman she was.

At last, Guxi spoke. “You mean it?”

His expression was almost blank, his features as fine and composed as a painting, his whole bearing likewise picture-still. The casual question gave nothing away, leaving one utterly unable to guess what was going through his mind.

If Baili Xiaosheng claimed she wasn’t nervous, wasn’t uneasy in that moment, it would have been a lie—but even so, she held herself steady, offering up a bright, flower-like smile. “Absolutely true. I keep my word.”

“Why?” Guxi asked again.

“I don’t like her. I like you plenty.” Baili Xiaosheng answered without thinking, and it was, in fact, exactly what she felt. A faint, teasing smile flickered across his eyes—there and gone in an instant. “You not liking her—what does that have to do with me?”

“You—” Baili Xiaosheng nearly blurted something out, but caught herself just in time.

“Hm?” Guxi arched a brow lightly, his gaze sharpening as he studied her closely. Unlike the way she looked at him—never able to see through him, only ever sensing his presence beside her, yet never able to find where his heart truly lay—

For him, looking at her was far simpler. He’d seen through her at a single glance. He simply hadn’t wanted to admit it.

It wasn’t quite fondness, let alone love—not the way it had been with Shiliang before, quietly guarding a secret affection, quietly preparing to give, preparing for a future together.

Toward this straightforward girl before him, he merely felt admiration, and a certain habitual comfort—the habit of standing quietly by her side.

Forever—he had never once thought that far.

But leaving—he’d never thought about that either.

Facing his scrutiny, Baili Xiaosheng met his eyes openly, boldly, and pressed her accusation. “Of course it does! Otherwise, why did you stop me just now when I was about to kill her? You want her gone, yet you don’t want her dead—you’re nostalgic for her, and you toyed with me!”

At that, the amused glint he’d been hiding could no longer be contained. He threw back his head and laughed heartily—for the first time realizing that this girl, so bold and boyish most days, could be this straightforward, this simple, this adorable.

Seeing him laugh only made Baili Xiaosheng inexplicably furious. She shot him a sharp, phoenix-eyed glare. “What’s so funny? Is it really that hilarious? Fine, don’t agree then. Hmph, let me tell you, not only will I not get rid of her, I’ll carry her around with me everywhere, use her as a weapon, treat her like a servant!”

It’s a proven fact—no woman is immune to jealousy. Some women simply don’t show it easily. But once they do, it’s never a small matter.

Wasn’t this a threat, plain and simple?

Guxi was thoroughly amused now, finally understanding why she’d been so furious back in the secret chamber. It hadn’t been anger at all—it had been jealousy.

He just kept laughing, still not saying a word.

Baili Xiaosheng, thoroughly mortified by his laughter, gave an irritated snort and turned to walk away.

But Guxi hurriedly caught her by the arm. Baili Xiaosheng shook him off by reflex, snapping coldly, “What?”

To her surprise, Guxi’s left hand reached out and grabbed a clean outer robe he’d left off to the side earlier, draping it over her shoulders.

Baili Xiaosheng started, only then noticing how thoroughly soaked she was—more than a little of her had been exposed in places.

The robe was Guxi’s own outer garment. How long had he had this with him? Had he deliberately set aside a clean robe before diving into the water?

Baili Xiaosheng stood there stunned, while Guxi’s voice had already gone soft. “A young lady shouldn’t go diving into strange waters out here. It never ends well.”

The wide robe blocked out the chill of the mountain wind—but what truly warmed her was her own heart.

This man really had thought of everything. Belatedly, she realized just how thoughtful he was at caring for others. Was it because he’d once cared for someone this way before?

A wave of soreness rose unbidden in her chest. This time, Baili Xiaosheng’s heart truly ached. She looked up at him and murmured, almost without meaning to, “Guxi, is this how you always took care of Shiliang before?”

Pale moonlight spilled over her small, scarred face, making her bright, lively eyes glimmer, achingly lovely. She looked so earnest, so serious—like an orphan with nothing to her name, stubbornly asking a question about belonging.

His attentiveness, his gentleness, his tolerance—were they hers alone? Or had they, once upon a time, already belonged to someone else?

She had never known what love was. But in this moment, she knew with perfect clarity what kind of love she wanted.

She wanted to be someone’s one and only. If she wasn’t, she thought, she would mind it for the rest of her life.

Habit had become love—so she couldn’t bear the thought of a third person, even one from the past;

Habit had become love—so she wanted, overbearingly, sole possession, refusing to share;

Habit had become love. Guxi—could it be that you, like me, had grown unable to do without the other, without even realizing it?

Looking at Baili Xiaosheng, pitiable yet stubbornly earnest, the tenderness in Guxi’s eyes deepened and deepened, thick enough that it seemed it could never be undone—as if it could dissolve a person entirely into his eyes, into his heart.

Baili Xiaosheng felt as though she were about to sink entirely into the depths of his gaze, unable to pull free. And yet she held on to one last thread of clarity, determined to know what he was truly thinking.

She wanted an answer from him.

“Guxi, is this how you always took care of Shiliang before?” she asked again, stubbornly.

Guxi merely smiled faintly, tinged with a trace of helplessness, and was just about to answer—when, at that very moment, a massive wave suddenly burst from the lake beside them!

Guxi’s first instinct was to push Baili Xiaosheng behind him and draw his long sword.

Qin Chu’s martial skill was indeed a match for his own—and worse, it now seemed his poison arts were formidable too. How else could he have survived Baili Xiaosheng’s poison?

Sure enough, as the wave subsided, Qin Chu hovered in midair, looking down on them with disdain. Gone was his earlier servile manner—in its place, an arrogant, insolent bearing. He leveled his sword at Guxi and snarled, “Who are you, that you dare ruin my plans?”