The cold mountain wind swept past, making the already silent night feel even more desolate and lonely.

In the darkness of night, someone was tirelessly asking the person beside her over and over again.

“Gu Baiying, tell me honestly, if I did take seven male consorts, would you truly cut all ties with me until death?”

“Yes.”

Zanxing studied his expression: “Really?”

He replied irritably: “Really!”

“Oh!” Zanxing nodded, “Then your feelings for me are just so-so. I thought you’d persist for a few years.”

The surroundings fell quiet. After a while, the young man’s voice rang out, carrying a hint of unwillingness: “Life is long, what if you change your mind in the future, I…”

“…I could reluctantly wait a little.”

Zanxing was stunned for a moment, looking at him with mixed emotions, murmuring: “I never imagined the Taiyan Sect would produce such a devoted lover like you.” She muttered to herself again: “When did I become so good at keeping men on the hook?”

“What?”

“…Nothing.”

Under the fire-colored paired flower tree, Zanxing pulled Gu Baiying to sit down. This young man was feeling frustrated, which was understandable. His temperament was proud and conceited, and now he had repeatedly been left speechless by people in Heishi City – it was somewhat bullying when word got out.

Zanxing pulled the hairpin from her head and held it before Gu Baiying’s eyes.

The Evening Star Hairpin had been broken once. She later had Xiao Shuang take it to be repaired as best as possible, but cracks remained. Without the Yuan Soul’s embellishment, the Heavenly Soul Wood didn’t look as stunning as it had originally. Even so, Zanxing always wore it. The people of Heishi City would secretly tell Bujiang that Zanxing had poor taste – a dignified Demon Realm princess always wearing a broken azure hairpin on her head.

But Zanxing still felt this was the best gift she had received since coming to this place.

She held the Evening Star Hairpin, looking toward Gu Baiying. Finally, she couldn’t help but ask the question she had always wanted to ask: “Gu Baiying, why did you give this to me back then?”

She already knew about the Ghost Head Flower incident, so naturally, she understood that the moment she told Gu Baiying that what she saw was “flowers” rather than “white bones,” he had already known her demonic identity. But after that, he didn’t probe or pressure her, and even secretly divided part of his Yuan Soul to embellish the hairpin, nonchalantly giving it to her as a birthday gift.

“What else could it be for?” Gu Baiying looked toward the distant lights at the foot of the mountain, speaking indifferently, “You wouldn’t reveal your identity then, all the major sects treat the demon race as a great enemy, and I was about to enter closed-door cultivation – I couldn’t protect you.” He paused: “Later, I thought, if I divided a strand of life soul and placed it within, should there be real danger, it could block it for you.”

Zanxing was slightly stunned. So after Gu Baiying learned her identity, the first thing he thought of was how to protect her.

“Then why… didn’t you ask me?”

“Since you wouldn’t say, you must have had unspeakable difficulties.” Gu Baiying said indifferently: “How could I ask?”

“Then what if I never told you?”

“What else could I do?” He spoke carelessly, “Just wait, wait for the day you would speak up.”

His robes were tinged slightly red by the full tree of paired flowers, his profile clean and refreshing, the young man’s gaze also bright, like stars in the night.

Noticing Zanxing’s gaze, he turned his head, asking somewhat puzzled: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Zanxing smiled, “I was thinking, you gave me such a precious birthday gift, what should I give you in return?”

Gu Baiying glanced at her and scoffed: “Forget it, if you could just take good care of yourself, I’d be very happy.”

“Actually, according to that book Mendong gave me, ‘How to Conquer Handsome Young Heroes,’ at this point I should say ‘How about I pledge myself to you,’ but I’m the next Demon Lord, so saying that would be somewhat beneath my dignity.” Zanxing smiled brilliantly, “Gu Baiying, I’ll give you something else.”

Suddenly, a large mass of brilliant azure light appeared in her palm. This radiance was more than ten times larger than the paired flower tree from moments ago. Zanxing threw this azure light upward, and instantly, the pitch-black night sky was illuminated.

The wind blew the entire starry sky askew.

The Milky Way flowed over from the distant horizon, countless twinkling stars brilliant and dazzling. Those crystalline stars clustered noisily in the vast heaven and earth, falling upon the dome, swaying as if about to drop.

Starlight filled the entire city.

In Heishi City, the demons raised their heads, gazing at the suddenly appearing galaxy in the dome. The originally cold and lonely Qixi Festival thus gained ethereal magpie bridges and tender affection.

“Creating an illusion of a starry sky is a bit difficult for me, so it can only last half an hour.” Zanxing sat on the ground, looking toward Gu Baiying beside her, “I figured you don’t lack gold, silver, and jewels. Evening stars are always present on Chuhong Terrace, but Heishi City has no clear nights. This evening star scene is unique – you can’t see it anywhere else.” She blinked. “Do you like it?”

Gu Baiying was slightly stunned, turning his head to look at the woman beside him. She leaned forward, looking at him, her gaze clear and sincere as always.

“…It’s alright, I suppose.” He turned his head away somewhat uncomfortably, but his ears quietly reddened.

Zanxing sighed and pulled out a small jar from her Qiankun Bag: “Would you like a drink?”

She pulled out the wine stopper, and immediately a sweet, clear fragrance wafted out. When this aroma reached his nose, Gu Baiying was stunned, asking somewhat hesitantly: “This is…”

“Do you find this fragrance familiar?” Zanxing smiled: “I talked with the Wine Demon for a long time before he could brew wine with the same taste. The ingredients are different, but the flavor is imitated to about seventy or eighty percent.” She looked at Gu Baiying, “The Danxin Wine you chose for me on my birthday.”

The young man was stunned and didn’t speak for a moment.

Zanxing smiled: “Your words were hidden quite euphemistically.”

Back then, before the Ten Thousand Killing Formation, when the cultivators pressed forward step by step, under the fierce flames of the Divine Fire Pillar, he wrapped the vermilion hair ribbon around his wrist and said in a low voice: “The Danxin Wine that Xuan Lingzi set out was my gift. I spent three whole days choosing it, but you still didn’t understand.”

Zanxing had never understood.

Later, when she came to Heishi City, she often thought about Gu Baiying’s whispered words that day, not understanding what she should have understood.

Until Xiao Shuang heard her words and suddenly smiled: “Little Princess can’t figure this out either? That young martial uncle was confessing his feelings to you.”

“Confessing his feelings?”

“Yes, ‘Danxin cun yi, chou jun wei zhi’ – ‘A cinnabar heart holds an inch of meaning, worried that the gentleman doesn’t know.’ Naturally, it was a confession of feelings.”

Zanxing stared at the person beside her and spoke four words: “A cinnabar heart holds an inch of meaning, worried that the gentleman didn’t know.”

He was arrogant and wild in all things, looking down on everyone, but only in matters of the heart was he especially careful. Perhaps thinking she had someone else in her heart, perhaps thinking she wasn’t the same kind of person, but still carefully offering his sincere heart. Not wanting to speak, yet unwilling to give up, he placed his feelings in the hairpin and hid his affection in the wine’s name.

“But Gu Baiying,” Zanxing sighed, “have you ever thought that with such cryptic expressions, I might never understand in my entire life?”

“So what?” He raised his eyelids, his tone light and airy, “If you don’t understand, I’ll find other ways. Eventually, you’ll understand.”

Zanxing laughed again. Laughing and laughing, she picked up the wine jar before her and took a sip.

The wine jar wasn’t large. She had later asked the Wine Demon to brew this Danxin wine, but the pills of humans and demons were different, and the brewing materials were different, so the taste was somewhat different. She had originally thought she would never again in her lifetime drink Danxin wine that tasted like it did then, but now with Gu Baiying beside her, even this bitter, strong wine became sweet and fragrant.

Gu Baiying turned his head to look at her. After watching for a while, he reached out to snatch the wine jar from Zanxing’s hands, saying: “Drink less. You just came out of the Demon Yuan Pool – strong liquor harms the body.”

Zanxing raised her hand, dodging his movement: “This was brewed by the Wine Demon, different from what Fourth Martial Uncle brewed. The recipe was changed – it’s not strong at all. Absolutely won’t make me drunk and forcefully kiss you like last time…”

Her words stopped abruptly.

The cold wind lifted her hair, blowing away some of the previous heat.

The young man’s eyes were deep and dark, looking at her with a half-smile.

After a long time, he spoke indifferently: “So, you weren’t drunk back then.”

Zanxing coughed violently, choking.

She said sincerely, “If I said I just remembered this now, would you believe me?”

Gu Baiying sneered coldly: “No.”

“…”

“Back then, I hadn’t figured out how to face you, so I avoided the topic. I wasn’t deliberately taking advantage of you without taking responsibility.” Zanxing emphasized: “Don’t think nonsense!”

That day by Changchun Pool, although she was somewhat drunk, she wasn’t completely unaware of her actions. It was just that the wind that night was too gentle, and the way he looked at her was intoxicating, so she had grown bold with wine and taken the opportunity to kiss Gu Baiying.

The next day, when she woke up, she felt particularly contemptuous of her behavior.

After all, her identity was inexplicable, her relationship with Gu Baiying was still unclear, and her future was also a complete blank. With such a tangled mess of a life, adding more complications would truly be adding chaos. So when Gu Baiying asked her about it, Zanxing pretended not to know.

Originally, she had planned to keep this secret in her heart forever, playing dumb to the end, but she hadn’t expected that tonight, in a moment of forgetfulness, she would let it slip.

Gu Baiying stared at her, seeming somewhat displeased, still brooding over what happened back then.

Zanxing moved a little closer: “But were you troubled by it at the time?”

“No.”

“You answered so quickly – you must have been.” She moved even closer, “Were you tossing and turning over it, feeling that I had heartlessly abandoned you, both unwilling to accept it and unwilling to question me directly, tormenting yourself day after day?”

“No!” The veins on his forehead throbbed.

“Then why didn’t you dodge at the time?” Zanxing pondered: “You clearly could have pushed me away.”

The distance was very close now.

The night wind was cool. Gu Baiying looked down at her, his eyes like the clear stream water between Chuhong Terrace, holding moving ripples. The night wind carried the faint scent of green grass from his body. Thousands of starlight scattered down – his expression couldn’t be seen clearly, but the heat and affection in his gaze could be felt.

His Adam’s apple rolled slightly as he stared into her eyes.

Zanxing’s heart skipped a beat.

He said seriously, “Because I like you.”

Zanxing was stunned. The next moment, her lips touched a hint of coolness.

The young man’s kiss fell upon her lips, light as a dragonfly touching water, like a chaotic dream. His voice was like tiny waves, silently and soundlessly scattering into the full galaxy of stars, drifting away near and far.

“Because I like you,” he said.