Yue Liangze tilted his head, seeming to truly consider it for a moment, before finally saying: “No change.”

Ling Luo: “…”

Serves you right!

She let out a light huff and lowered her head to eat.

A hint of amusement flashed in Yue Liangze’s eyes as he bent down to continue fixing the window.

This wasn’t the first time he had done such a thing; he was quite skilled at it.

The two hadn’t seen each other for four years—a long period, over a thousand days and nights. Both had grown into unfamiliar versions of themselves, yet when they stood together, it was all quite natural, just as it had always been.

Occasionally, when Yue Liangze’s peripheral vision swept over the person behind the window, he would feel his calm heart flutter slightly.

Ling Luo, now full, blew away the small wood chips beside her and leaned on the windowsill, lowering her gaze to watch Yue Liangze paste the window paper on the ground below.

“How are Song Yuanyuan and the others doing?” Yue Liangze asked.

“Very well,” Ling Luo said. “They entered the secular world this year. After the Golden Luan Pool Banquet, they don’t plan to return to Tianji but want to travel the world instead.”

Yue Liangze: “What about you?”

“I’ve also entered the secular world.” Ling Luo narrowed her eyes; his words reminded her of many things.

The Golden Luan Pool Banquet was the beginning, with subsequent disasters following one after another.

“Since you’ve come to participate in the Golden Luan Pool Banquet meeting, why bring only an ordinary sword?” Yue Liangze asked.

It was an entry-level disciple’s sword.

Given how favored she was at Tianji in the Eastern Isles, this was surely not all she had.

The ultimate goal of the Golden Luan Pool Banquet was to draw the Zhenxian Jade, and since it involved swords, dueling naturally defaulted to the way of the sword cultivator.

Yue Liangze thought that if she only used Ying Xi, it might be disadvantageous.

“Because I can defeat them with an ordinary sword anyway,” Ling Luo said, neither exaggerating nor being modest.

Yue Liangze fell silent.

Perhaps he had overthought things.

Seeing him not respond, Ling Luo looked at him with suspicion: “You don’t think I’ll lose, do you?”

Yue Liangze: “No.”

“Yes, you do! Otherwise, why didn’t you say anything just now!” Ling Luo glared at him. “Do you think I haven’t made any progress in all these years since that duel with you? Don’t you know everyone calls me the number one sword cultivator!”

Yue Liangze nodded, “You are.”

Ling Luo: “…”

Just placating her!

Ling Luo said irritably: “Compensate me with a sword! I think that Wusheng in your hand would be quite suitable.”

Wusheng, which Yue Liangze had placed beside him, suddenly trembled and emitted a brief, shrill cry.

Wusheng truly couldn’t endure it any longer.

First, she wants my master to abandon me, and now she wants to steal me!

You just want me, the invincible sword, and my invincible scabbard, so you’re trying every way to sweet-talk my master and confuse him, aren’t you?

Yue Liangze glanced at Wusheng and answered honestly: “It doesn’t want to.”

Ling Luo: “You’re the sword master, you decide!”

“If it’s unwilling, giving it to you would harm you instead,” Yue Liangze said. “After I finish fixing the window, I’ll go find you a sword.”

In the next room, Chu Yi also couldn’t bear it any longer.

He pushed open the window and said coldly: “You’re letting her take a sword given by someone from the Sacred Sword Sect to the duel?”

Yue Liangze showed no panic; he had long judged from the sounds that Chu Yi next door wasn’t asleep.

Ling Luo raised her head with displeasure, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“How could anyone sleep with you two talking non-stop outside?” Chu Yi’s expression was gloomy as he looked at the two of them without courtesy. “What’s the point of fixing a broken window? Don’t you know the wind-binding spell? If you want to block the wind, it’s not difficult. There are hundreds of spells for blocking wind and dispelling cold.”

“Didn’t either the Sacred Sword Sect or Tianji teach you? You don’t know even one?”

“Cultivating the sword path to strengthen your body all day, and you’re still afraid of catching a cold from a night of wind?”

“What have you been cultivating all this time?”

Ling Luo: “…”

Yue Liangze blinked.

Chu Yi raised his hand and cast a wind-binding spell on Ling Luo’s window, saying coldly: “Don’t accept the sword, and don’t give it to her.”

He wasn’t being polite at all.

Ling Luo raised her hand and crushed Chu Yi’s wind-binding spell.

“Ignore him,” Ling Luo said in a low voice. “He saw the moon in the sky tonight and can’t control himself.”

Yue Liangze hugged the repaired window, asking with some confusion: “The moon in the sky?”

Ling Luo just smiled without answering.

Yue Liangze reattached the window securely, then opened and closed it to test, making sure there were no problems.

“Give me the sword another time,” Ling Luo said. “It’s indeed not appropriate to use a sword you’ve given me for tomorrow’s meeting.”

After all, she could win even with a wooden sword.

Yue Liangze’s gaze paused briefly before he finally lowered his head and gave a sound of agreement.

When Ling Luo closed the window, Yue Liangze departed.

The moon was still hidden in dark clouds, its gentle light struggling to escape from the surrounding darkness.

Chu Yi could finally sleep in peace.

In his dream, the moonlight was magnificent, with two rows of cherry trees neatly arranged. A gentle night breeze blew, and the path was covered with flower petals.

Disciples of the immortal sects walked along the path with wine jars and cups, laughing and making noise. But he had become separated from his companions after taking a cherry grove path and encountering a woman secretly carving an array formation behind the flower trees.

As his companions passed by on the path with merriment, he was being held against a tree by a veiled woman’s binding spell.

Her dress was the color of cherry blossoms. As she raised her hand, her wide sleeve fell back to reveal a snow-white wrist encircled by a ring of red scales.

She pressed a finger lightly to his lips.

The eyes visible above her veil were like those of a deer—clear, moist, docile, and enchanting.

The woman pressed a finger to his lips with one hand while using a small sword in the other to carve something on the cherry tree behind his shoulder.

Chu Yi, immobilized by the spell, was silenced by that finger and could not speak. He could only secretly gather his strength to try to break through the restriction.

The woman was very focused and serious, failing to notice Chu Yi breaking through the binding. In that instant, the burst of spiritual energy made their clash inevitable.

Unexpectedly, Chu Yi easily grabbed the woman’s throat and pinned her to the ground.

Seeing the panic in the woman’s eyes, Chu Yi let out a cold laugh. Now you know to be afraid?

The woman was no match for close combat. Even as she struggled, Chu Yi disarmed her, bound her hands above her head, and bent his knee against her abdomen and ribs. When he pressed down with his weight, the woman frowned in pain.

Chu Yi took the small sword from her hand and placed it horizontally across her throat. When she tried to resist, the blade pressed against her delicate skin, cutting a thin line of blood.

The woman stopped moving, realizing this person would truly kill her.

Chu Yi pulled down her veil with one hand, revealing a face of country-toppling beauty.

But he froze.

Because he had seen this face before.

Years ago, on the wedding day at the Moon Palace of Northern Court.

Chu Yi frowned and immediately released her.

The woman lay on the ground, seemingly stunned with fear, her dark eyes misted over with a hint of tears glistening.

A trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Chu Yi’s expression grew slightly awkward.

Not knowing her identity earlier, he had been too rough.

The woman raised her hand to wipe away the blood at the corner of her lips, slowly put her veil back on, half sat up, and made several hand gestures to Chu Yi.

“Sorry, please keep this secret.”

Although Chu Yi had doubts in his heart, he could only nod.

The mist in the woman’s eyes was swirling, bewitching him as if he had entered a rain-soaked courtyard, lonely and painful, making it impossible for him to refuse.

The surrounding cherry trees silently watched the two.

Chu Yi also silently watched the woman leave.

But—

What would be the consequences of pinning down the current master of the Northern Court Moon Palace and roughing her up?

Chu Yi was still pondering this when he woke up the next day.

Perhaps even Yun Shouxi couldn’t protect him.

With a gloomy expression, Chu Yi got up early and took Ling Luo to Taichu’s dueling platform.

It was already crowded with people and very lively.

The circular dueling platform was surrounded by five-tiered stands that could accommodate over a thousand people.

The dueling platform was only open during the Golden Luan Pool Banquet meeting. Even those who weren’t disciples of Western Sea Taichu could enter, so many non-members of the Twelve Immortal Sects, as well as ordinary people, came to watch the excitement.

There were six dueling platforms in total, allowing multiple matches to be held simultaneously.

On the first day, the contestants’ abilities varied greatly, so the matches progressed quickly. Western Sea Taichu aimed to reduce the remaining participants to fewer than one hundred by the end of the day.

The victorious side could advance to the next round if they won five consecutive matches.

The order was arranged by Western Sea Taichu.

Ling Luo met with Song Yuanyuan and the others at Platform Six.

After learning that Yue Liangze was from the Sacred Sword Sect, Song Yuanyuan felt both happy and melancholic.

Her mood fluctuated between “My little father has made something of himself” and “It’s going to be so difficult to have to carefully watch the atmosphere every time I want to say something to little father from now on.”

“Has this Golden Luan Pool Banquet stirred people from the Sacred Sword Sect to come to watch?” However, Chang Fei’s focus shifted elsewhere.

“They should be here for the hundred-day celebration of the Chief Elder’s granddaughter, not for the Golden Luan Pool Banquet,” Xu Shen said. “But you should be careful—you tricked the cat into running a shady business.”

Chang Fei’s face turned pale, with “impending death” written all over his eyes.

Xu Shen and Song Yuanyuan had earlier numbers, so it wasn’t long before it was their turn.

Ling Luo and Chang Fei left for the adjacent dueling platform, encountering a group from the Carefree Sect on the way.

The young men walked ahead, laughing and joking, while the last girl in the group carried several swords in her arms. She walked slowly and, at one point, accidentally fell to the ground.

Hearing the noise, a young man turned to look, impatiently saying: “Su Shang, we just asked you to carry a few swords and you can’t even walk properly. What have you been cultivating all this time? Get up quickly! Don’t delay us from watching Senior Brother’s duel!”

Su Shang bit her lip and apologized softly.

As she bent down to pick up the swords, a shadow fell over her. A handsome but somewhat delicate-looking young man gave her a friendly smile and helped pick up the swords, holding them for her.

“Hey, you’re carrying so many by yourself?” Chang Fei said. “That’s too heavy. Let me help you carry them for now.”

“No, no need,” Su Shang shook her head nervously, her cheeks involuntarily turning red. “I can carry them myself…”

“But you can’t carry so many, you’ll fall again. It’s much easier for me,” Chang Fei said. “Let’s go. I’ll take them for you first, so you don’t fall again.”

He told Ling Luo: “I’m going to do my good deed for the day, I’ll be back soon!”

Ling Luo glanced at the girl beside him and lazily responded with a sound of acknowledgment.

She remembered this person.

When she had razed the Carefree Sect that year, she had left only Su Shang alive.

Chang Fei left with the girl, but Su Shang turned back several times to look at Ling Luo.

After hesitating for a moment, she still asked: “The young lady who was with you just now… could you tell me her name?”

Chang Fei asked puzzledly: “I’m the one helping you carry swords, why do you want her name and not mine?”

Su Shang’s face reddened again, and she waved her hands in shock: “I-I just thought she looked familiar, like someone I used to know.”

“Don’t I look familiar to you?” Chang Fei asked, pointing at himself.

Su Shang shook her head.

Chang Fei widened his eyes: “Then you can only choose one of our names. Whose name do you want?”

Su Shang had never been so embarrassed.

Meeting Chang Fei’s dissatisfied expression, she finally gave in, avoiding his gaze and saying softly: “Y-yours.”

Only then did Chang Fei smile, pleased.

He escorted Su Shang to the adjacent dueling platform and said as he left: “We’re just next door. If you think she looks like an old acquaintance, go ask her directly. If she is, you can catch up on old times. If not, you can make a new friend.”

“Also—”

He winked at Su Shang, indicating she should come closer.

Su Shang lowered her head slightly to hear him say in a lowered voice: “Your hairpin is on backward.”

Su Shang: “…”

With a panicked expression, she reached up to touch it, but Chang Fei raised his hand first and fixed it for her.

Ling Luo sat in the stands, watching Xu Shen’s match. He wasn’t using Jiang Xi; instead, he held a sword.

Xu Shen’s goal wasn’t to be the champion either; he would be satisfied just making it into the top hundred.

By the time Chang Fei arrived, Xu Shen had already won four matches.

“What’s the situation now?” he asked as he sat down, casually handing Ling Luo a drink.

Ling Luo took it, holding it in her hands: “The final match.”

“Then there’s no suspense,” Chang Fei rolled his eyes and continued, “That girl just now is called Su Shang. She told me you looked familiar and asked for your name, but I didn’t give it.”

Ling Luo narrowed her eyes.

It didn’t matter whether he had given it or not; they would meet soon enough anyway.

“She’s from the Carefree Sect. Do you remember her?”

Everyone knew Ling Luo had some grievances with the Carefree Sect. Although the details weren’t clear, they usually paid some attention to the Carefree Sect.

Ling Luo took a sip of her drink and said leisurely: “Yes, and the impression is quite good.”

“Good? Well, that’s good,” Chang Fei leaned back against his chair, relaxing. “When I saw her being bullied earlier, I felt sorry and helped her. Then I realized she was from the Carefree Sect and was afraid I might have helped someone who had been unkind to you in the past. My heart was trembling when I came back—oh, I was so scared.”

Ling Luo rolled her eyes and said irritably: “Even if there’s a grudge, it’s between me and the Carefree Sect. What are you all always afraid of?”

Chang Fei innocently said: “If forced to choose a side, we’d be on yours.”