Shao Yi’s eyes went completely round. This was truly the most incredible and most threatening warning he had ever heard. He stared at her for a very long time as if he didn’t recognize her. Finally, a trace of a smile gradually appeared on his face, with a seductive air at the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.

“If I don’t approach other goddesses, then you’re all I have left.” He propped his hands behind him and leaned back slightly. His jet-black hair was half spread out in the flower bushes. From the earlier playing around, his collar was somewhat loose, revealing a patch of snowy chest with a bit of rouge staining it.

Xuan Yi tilted her head to look at that rouge mark on his collarbone, saying lightly, “You can try and see if I take the bait.”

Shao Yi supported the back of her head and suddenly drew close, almost pressing against her forehead, his voice extremely low. “Little loach, you can’t just say such things to a Shenjun.”

“Oh?” Xuan Yi pushed him away and smiled again. “So have you thought of any good methods?”

Shao Yi gazed at her for a moment and smiled bitterly. “Who did you learn this seduction technique from?”

She didn’t take the bait—he was almost ready to take it himself. Not good, not good, this was terrible.

Xuan Yi shifted her gaze away, her soft voice faintly carrying a trace of mockery. “Full of spring passions, naturally you see everyone as seducing you. Senior Apprentice Brother Shao Yi, have you decided whether to tell me the truth? I’m quite idle and have plenty of time.”

Shao Yi let out a long sigh and simply half-reclined in the peony bushes, slowly saying, “I’ve always had pretty good patience.”

Xuan Yi said, “Unluckily, my patience is also quite good.”

Shao Yi could only continue to smile bitterly—trapped in a cocoon of his own making, this truly was being trapped in a cocoon of his own making. He turned over to lie on his back, his eyes flowing and falling on Xuan Yi again. Her profile was soft and handsome. Her eyelashes lifted like fans, and her calm, distant gaze collided with his.

He reached out his hand to touch her translucent cheek. She slowly avoided it, so he said quite seriously, “Give me a kiss, and perhaps I’ll consider telling you.”

Xuan Yi pulled out a ball of white snow and looked at him earnestly. “Eat a hundred balls of white snow, and perhaps I’ll consider letting you off.”

Shao Yi simply didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh loudly twice. After pausing for quite a while, he suddenly got up and hooked his arm around her shoulders, saying lightly, “At this moment, I can finally understand Junior Apprentice Brother Fucang’s feelings. Even I want to give you a few knocks.”

Bringing up the very thing that shouldn’t be mentioned—Xuan Yi said coldly, “There are enough brutes in the world. Is Senior Apprentice Brother Shao Yi also going to join in the fun?”

Shao Yi’s fingers slid down ambiguously along her slender back, hooking the concave part of her waistline and bringing her into his embrace, chuckling lowly. “I won’t hit you—all that hitting and killing spoils the atmosphere. Now that all the goddesses around me have been scared away, you’re all I have to keep me company. I’m just afraid you can’t handle it.”

Suddenly her ice-cold hand pressed against his chin, leisurely pushing him slowly away. Shao Yi looked toward her mocking eyes. Her gaze seemed to say: I knew all along you would do this.

Goodness, this little loach was using all ten measures of attention and cunning in front of him, and she had always been extremely clever. This was going to be difficult.

Shao Yi fell heavily into the flower bushes, covering his forehead with his hand, saying leisurely, “Little loach, sit properly, and I’ll lie properly. Why bring up annoying things like grudges that spoil the atmosphere? Even if I’m trapped for ten thousand years, with a beauty at my side, I’m happy with it.”

Xuan Yi stood up and dusted off her skirt. “Ten thousand years? You’re thinking too much. Farewell.”

At this moment, Shao Yi genuinely and sincerely experienced what it meant to be scratched by a hundred claws at heart, both laughing and crying at once. He could only smile bitterly. “You’re leaving just like that? Won’t stay and talk with me a bit more?”

Xuan Yi said flatly, “Since my life belongs to Senior Apprentice Brother Shao Yi anyway, there’s no rush for just one day, right?”

Meaning she would come back with this trick in the future? Chasing away the goddesses while running away herself, leaving him alone here to blow in the wind until he told her the whole truth? Shao Yi couldn’t hold back and laughed loudly several times. What excellent methods indeed.

Watching her elaborate and gorgeous lotus dress hem about to float away like a flower, a restless hunger-like emotion suddenly arose from the bottom of his heart—she truly was formidable, formidable.

“Little loach.” Shao Yi propped up his body and called out to her from behind. “Next time you do this, I won’t mind being a brute once.”

Xuan Yi didn’t turn her head back, responding, “I also won’t mind having my left leg injured once more, to properly see how Senior Apprentice Brother Shao Yi acts like a brute.”

Was she saying that if she became heavy, he wouldn’t be able to touch her? Shao Yi lay back down, both laughing and sighing, with peony petals falling all over him.

*

When the figure of Baize Dijun appeared in the South Flower Garden together with the two Dijun Taizhang and Zhenwu, Zhi Xi and Gu Ting had been attending to the disciples from other halls until they were drenched in sweat. Only now could they catch their breath.

Tai Yao hurried over. Seeing their exhausted faces, he couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve only attended to this many disciples and you two are already so awkward. It seems Mingxing Hall should have more guests to let you practice. All right, I’ll take over. You two go rest.”

Zhi Xi was too tired to even want to speak. She only nodded and returned to the small stone table under the willow tree. Fucang was still there, but Xuan Yi was gone. Gu Ting downed half a cup of tea before gasping and asking, “Where’s Xuan Yi? They didn’t quarrel again, did they? I didn’t know he had such a bad temper.”

Fucang said nothing. He took out a sandalwood box from his sleeve and pushed it in front of him, saying in a low voice, “I should go back. Help me hand this homework to teacher. In the future, I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend classes for quite a long time.”

Gu Ting was eating golden chestnut cream cakes when this sudden statement nearly choked him. He coughed violently until everything went dark. Fortunately, Zhi Xi beside him said urgently, “Is Junior Apprentice Brother Fucang planning to enter the Thousand-Year Dream immediately? This… isn’t this too fast? Teacher just summoned us back. Why not wait a few more days? At least say goodbye to the senior and junior apprentice brothers and sisters, and there’s also Xuan Yi…”

Fucang smiled, but his expression was ice-cold. His complexion was somehow as pale as snow. All the vivid life force he once had seemed to have been withdrawn, leaving only a porcelain-like shell.

“No need.” He stood up and clasped his hands in salute. “Take care. We’ll meet again in a thousand years.”

Seeing him leave as soon as he said so, Gu Ting hurriedly chased after him. “I’ll see you out… What’s going on?”

Zhi Xi felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to chase after him. She and Fucang weren’t particularly close to begin with. Earlier she had been infatuated for nearly ten thousand years, and that lingering and absurd infatuation had ended quite absurdly too, causing her to always feel somewhat awkward when seeing Fucang. This situation was better left to Gu Ting to handle.

She sat blankly for a while, then subconsciously began searching everywhere for that deep purple figure. Even though she knew this behavior was ridiculous and meaningless, she still couldn’t help it.

As if by telepathy, she immediately spotted Shao Yi across the lake at the flower arbor. By his side… incredibly, there were no warblers and swallows beside him. He lay alone in the flower bushes, his deep purple long robe spread out like a painting.

Zhi Xi only felt something in her chest cavity go “thump” and fall, smashing her until her heart and spirit were unsettled and she couldn’t sit or stand at ease.

Gu Ting quickly returned, his face full of bewilderment, repeatedly sighing. “He won’t say anything no matter what I ask. Could it be that he was angered by Xuan Yi again?”

Zhi Xi didn’t hear clearly what he said at all. Her spirit and soul had long since flown far away. Her wrists were even trembling slightly. Forcing herself to remain composed, she poured a cup of tea. Tasting it in her mouth, she couldn’t tell at all whether it was scalding or cold.

The thing that had fallen in her chest cavity began to beat violently again, shaking her sternum until it hurt. As if she could no longer endure it, she put down her teacup, stood up, and left, leaving Gu Ting’s astonished calls behind her.