Ming Li could feel her Star Meridian self-repairing. She wanted to wake up quickly, to take action, but her body wouldn’t allow it, forcing her to continue sleeping.
She would occasionally dream, but more often she was in an illusory state, watching the sunset twilight with Zhou Zixi.
Three to five days passed like this without her waking.
Everyone knew Ming Li was recuperating, so they didn’t disturb her.
*
Chen Zhou soaked in the water for a long time, thoroughly washing himself inside and out. With his hair still wet and clinging to his face, he got up and put on his clothes. Walking around the folding screen, he turned to look at himself in the mirror.
The water in the Heavenly Pit had been murky and scarce, the light dim. It had been a long time since he’d properly looked at himself.
The mirror surface was covered with a thin mist from the room’s heat. Chen Zhou reached out to wipe it away, his fingertips pressing against the cold surface to clear the fog, his eyes calmly observing the person in the mirror.
He was no longer a filthy, foul-smelling slave.
Those days of tangled hair, black mud in his fingernails, kneeling to be beaten and scolded—they would never return.
Chen Zhou turned away without nostalgia.
Liang Junxia called from outside: “Chen Zhou! How many baths do you need in one day? I told you I don’t find you disgusting!”
Chen Zhou opened the door, steam still rising from his body, his head lowered as he tied his waistband, saying lazily: “One should be clean as a person. When you’re dirty, you wash.”
“Listen to your sophistry,” Liang Junxia said, standing at the courtyard entrance. “Fu Yuan and I just agreed to take your two friends to Seven Star City for a hot spring bath.”
Bei Dou already had hot spring pools, so there was no real need to spend unnecessary money in Seven Star City.
But Chen Zhou quickly understood Liang Junxia’s meaning.
Unlike Chen Zhou, Gu San and Wen Su were more accustomed to life in the Heavenly Pit. The outside world was more foreign and frightening to them; they couldn’t adapt and integrate as quickly as Chen Zhou could.
Additionally, with their Earth Ghost identities, they needed to adapt to this world as soon as possible.
Chen Zhou walked out with him: “For the hot spring bath, what about Wen Su?”
Liang Junxia looked at him with a serious expression: “What do you mean by that? Are you underestimating the friendship abilities of our seven academies’ senior and junior sisters? Wen Su was taken to Seven Star City by Ding Lan and others long ago. If it weren’t for waiting for you, I would have gone already.”
Chen Zhou asked in surprise: “She was willing to go with people she didn’t know well?”
Liang Junxia raised his eyebrows: “The young lady is working hard to change.”
Chen Zhou smiled at this.
Seven Star City seemed very complex to Wen Su. The streets were crowded, and one could easily get lost. She always felt different from these “normal people,” afraid with each step that others might be scrutinizing her.
She was too nervous and walked rather slowly.
Ding Lan reached out her hand and said, “If you’re too afraid, hold my hand. It’ll prevent you from getting lost and help you feel more at ease. No need to rush, take it slow.”
Wen Su hesitated, but still grasped her hand, saying softly: “Thank you.”
Ding Lan whispered, “If we run, you won’t pay attention to others’ gazes. Want to try?”
“Eh?” Before Wen Su could understand, Ding Lan said, “Let’s run!”
She pulled Wen Su forward, even using Instant Shadow to avoid all pedestrians. Behind them came the sound of laughter as their companions caught up.
In her anxiety, Wen Su only felt the sound of the wind. Gradually, she could also hear people calling her and Ding Lan’s names, asking them to wait, or saying they were about to catch up.
So she stopped looking at the people around her, running against the night breeze in the human world.
*
Chen Zhou, seeing that Wen Su was having fun and adapting well, withdrew his gaze and looked at Gu San standing behind him with Fu Yuan under the hot spring sign, learning to read the characters.
“Who’s paying?” Chen Zhou said. “First, exclude me.”
Liang Junxia said politely: “I’m not the kind of person who would let a pauper treat either.”
Chen Zhou looked around and asked lazily: “Why don’t I see Black Fox Mask?”
Liang Junxia said, “He went to find my sister-in-law.”
“Whose sister-in-law?” Chen Zhou looked at him in surprise.
Liang Junxia pointed at himself.
Chen Zhou calmly asked: “Why is he going to find your sister-in-law?”
Liang Junxia replied just as calmly: “Because my sister-in-law is his wife.”
After hearing this, Chen Zhou was no longer calm: “When did he get married and have children?”
Liang Junxia shook his head: “No children yet, and no marriage yet either.”
Chen Zhou: “Then why are you calling her sister-in-law?”
“Aren’t they already in love and promised to each other for life before she came back north with him? What else should I call her?” Liang Junxia raised his hand to pat Chen Zhou’s shoulder. “He’s not young anymore, and finding someone they truly love isn’t easy. It’s not easy at all, extremely difficult, so let’s congratulate him!”
Chen Zhou, covered in black lines from his patting, smiled insincerely: “Of course, I congratulate him. You’re the one who doesn’t look like you’re sincerely congratulating him.”
Liang Junxia collapsed on his shoulder, gritting his teeth: “That dog settling down so early leaves me alone to handle everything at Yu Heng Academy! All those junior brothers and sisters are only infatuated with the colorful world outside, not caring at all about their senior brother!”
Over these years, Qu Academy Head and I have screened several men whom our junior sisters met outside. They’re all sweet-talkers with ill intentions!”
Chen Zhou listened to his muttering and looked at someone approaching in the distance, raising an eyebrow to ask: “Why are you alone?”
“Who?” Liang Junxia raised his head to look.
Black Fox Mask was walking toward the two of them.
“Why are you here?” Liang Junxia asked. “Where’s my sister-in-law?”
“Indeed,” Chen Zhou said, stroking his chin. “Where’s my sister-in-law?”
Black Fox Mask smiled a little at their words and sighed softly: “Perhaps it’s retribution.”
For previously keeping Lady Li in the dark while he went out fighting every night in the south, and now, when he went to find her, the room was empty except for a letter written in her hand:
*Now you can taste what it’s like to wait for someone.*
It seemed she softened after writing these harsh words, so she wrote on the other side of the paper: *Don’t worry, I’m going home to stay for a while. I’ll also send regular messages to let you know I’m safe.*
*Don’t do anything reckless while I’m gone. Take care of yourself.*
*
When Ming Li opened her eyes, she still saw the sunset scene. Zhou Zixi remained sitting across from her, not having left. He was looking at the approaching night sky, as if he would never tire of it.
“I just dreamed of you,” she said as she sat up.
Zhou Zixi didn’t turn his head, asking in a lazy tone: “What did you dream about?”
Ming Li rested her chin on one hand as she looked at him, her eyes carrying a smile: “I dreamed that during the Star Festival, you were drunk on the city tower, complaining to Senior Brother and my brother—asking why hasn’t Senior Sister returned yet, when will Senior Sister return, whether Senior Sister is ever coming back.”
Zhou Zixi: “…”
The previously comfortable, lazy expression disappeared. He turned to sit properly, facing Ming Li with cool eyes: “That was because I was drunk.”
Ming Li: “When we arrived at the mountain gate, didn’t you say you weren’t drunk?”
Zhou Zixi: “Because I smelled the sobering fragrance that Qing Ying gave me on the way.”
Ming Li made an “oh” sound, nodded, and smiled broadly: “So this dream was true.”
Zhou Zixi: “…”
He turned his eyes away, full of disdain—disdain for himself lying on the city tower with a wine jar, talking nonsense.
The sunset stretched their shadows, softening the features of this cold-browed person. Ming Li’s gaze toward him was gentle and quiet: “You were always afraid before.”
Zhou Zixi: “What do I have to be afraid of?”
Ming Li said, “Afraid that everyone would know you’re an Earth Ghost, and thus distance themselves from you, no longer acknowledging you as their fellow disciple.”
“‘Everyone’?” Zhou Zixi looked back at Ming Li. “Don’t you think I was most afraid of you?”
Ming Li said, “Afraid that I, as a Pilgrim, would kill you after knowing you’re an Earth Ghost?”
Zhou Zixi was quiet for a moment before saying, “Senior Sister, haven’t you ever wondered why I came to Bei Dou?”
Ming Li said, “Because of Shi Fei?”
Zhou Zixi also rested his chin on one hand, looking at her with a smile in his eyes: “Before being locked up, I didn’t need Shi Fei.”
Ming Li tilted her head: “Then why?”
Zhou Zixi said, “Because the northern Pilgrim doesn’t kill Earth Ghosts indiscriminately.”
Ming Li was stunned at this.
Zhou Zixi said softly: “So I came north just to live a little better.”
Initially, he had only heard how formidable the northern Pilgrim was, how high her talent was, but Earth Ghosts weren’t very happy to see such a talented and powerful Pilgrim appear.
When he was wandering homeless in the human world, he heard a dying Earth Ghost say that if he was tired, he should go north—that was currently the safest place for law-abiding Earth Ghosts.
Law-abiding.
These words Zhou Zixi would never forget.
He had done nothing, yet heaven and earth had already determined he was a beast that needed to be caged or slaughtered.
Zhou Zixi had no complex reasons for coming to Bei Dou—stealing a supreme-grade Divine Weapon, being an undercover agent for Earth Ghosts, or monitoring Bei Dou’s movements—none of these were relevant.
He just wanted to learn to become stronger in the best place, to live better by his strength.
Fate, however, made this path more difficult due to a youthful glimpse of beauty.
Although deep feelings inevitably lead to cravings for a response, Zhou Zixi didn’t dare hope for too much. He desperately tried to shorten the distance between himself and Ming Li, countless times watching her departing figure, until one day, when Ming Li suddenly turned back to look at him. Zhou Zixi thought: if she turned because she discovered his Earth Ghost identity, it would still be worth it.
Thinking of this, Zhou Zixi couldn’t help but lightly raise his eyes to look at Ming Li sitting opposite him. The distance between them was just a table, neither near nor far. She was within his reach.
But to him, it was still too far.
Zhou Zixi said, “Senior Sister, come here.”
Ming Li blinked, and though she didn’t know what he wanted to do, she rose and went to sit next to him.
Zhou Zixi reached around to her nape, pulling her into his embrace, saying: “Go back to sleep.”
*
Tonight, there was a thunderstorm in the imperial capital, with lightning flashing and thunder pealing.
The lightning illuminated the figures in the long corridor. Servant girls carrying night lamps hurried toward Miss Chu’s room amid the thunder.
Miss Chu was afraid of thunder. Today, the master wasn’t home, and there was no one to accompany her. She couldn’t be left alone until the thunder stopped.
Another bolt of lightning struck, illuminating a woman lying in bed, her forehead covered in sweat.
She dreamed of several years ago, on a stormy night just like tonight.
A man in black clothes walked out from a pavilion that was crumbling after being pierced by star power. He was covered in blood, and the white bandages wrapped around his wrist were also stained with blood.
Numerous shadows and imperial guards rushed toward this place.
People from several factions stood in the rain, watching the sword-carrying man emerge alone, their hearts relieved.
She had just stepped down from a carriage. Rain-splashed mud fell on her bright red skirt hem, but she paid no attention. The man beside her held an umbrella for her, the sound of heavy rain hitting the umbrella echoing in her ears.
In that moment, the black-clothed man with the sword released a violent burst of star power, repelling the shadows who were trying to enter the pavilion to find someone. This self-destructive move of burning one’s Star Meridian for a moment of dominance was alarming to witness.
She hesitated in her heart, stepping out from under the umbrella and saying to him: “Stop. I know you did this for me…”
The man repelled a shadow with one sword strike, glancing at her and saying in a calm tone: “Why would you assume… that I came this time for you?”
Her face paled slightly, forcing a smile: “Isn’t that so?”
“Perhaps before,” he said. “Not now, and never will be in the future.”
*
Thunder struck again, startling the person in bed awake. She instinctively searched for someone beside her but saw no one.
The door opened, and the servant girls arrived just in time, each lighting candles in the room. Seeing the person in bed covered in sweat, one of them took a handkerchief to wipe it away.
Before she could ask, the servant Hong Shu explained: “The Martial Alliance had urgent business and sought out the master after you went to sleep. He hasn’t returned yet.”
Miss Chu rubbed her brow somewhat tiredly.
Hong Shu also asked someone to bring her a cup of water.
After drinking to moisten her throat, perhaps because tonight’s dream reminded her of past events, Miss Chu hesitated for a moment before asking: “That person… still hasn’t said anything?”
Hong Shu was momentarily stunned, then realized who she meant and shook her head: “If he had spoken, the master would surely have mentioned it to you first.”
Miss Chu lowered her gaze and lay back down.
Hong Shu said, “We’ll stay here watching over you. Please rest.”
Miss Chu said, “He didn’t eat dinner either. Have the kitchen prepare something so that when he returns, he can eat something warm.”
Hong Shu responded: “Yes.”
Miss Chu fell asleep again. For some reason, her dreams were filled with the shadows of old acquaintances.