Gui Diao Tang didn’t particularly like rainy days.

It rarely rained in Heishi City. When it did rain, the demons liked to hide in their caves. The human world was different – mortals always had such leisure and refined feelings that when encountering Jiangnan rain, they would always savor it carefully.

A boat draped with autumn-fragrant colored gauze curtains slowly drifted across the lake, accompanied by the sound of a courtesan’s qin. He stood on the bridge watching when suddenly a head popped out from beside him. A young lady in a goose-yellow long dress leaned half her body against the bridge railing and smiled as she explained to him: “That’s a courtesan’s pleasure boat. When it rains in the city, they come to tour the lake.”

Gui Diao Tang glanced at her indifferently and turned to leave.

Seeing this, the young lady hurriedly followed behind him: “Master Tang, wait for me—”

Gui Diao Tang had met Jiang Yiru while cultivating in the mountains. This young miss had gone up the mountain to burn incense at a Buddhist temple and was being chased by a fierce beast. Just as she was about to die under the beast’s bloody maw, he happened to pass by, killed the beast with one strike, and saved the young lady.

Jiang Yiru sat on the ground, suppressing her terror, and looked at the blue-robed man before her: “I am… I am Miss Jiang from the Jiang family in the city. Where does the young master reside? When I return home, I will surely present generous gifts…”

Gui Diao Tang said, “No need.” He walked past her.

He didn’t wish to become entangled with human women. His visit to this small city was because he had heard that there was a trading hall here that occasionally sold a certain spiritual herb, precisely the important material he needed to refine his breakthrough demon pill.

He found a residence in the city to stay in. Unexpectedly, after a few days, that woman came looking for him.

Jiang Yiru stood at the door with servants behind her carrying wooden boxes. She looked at Gui Diao Tang and smiled: “I finally found you. A life-saving debt cannot be settled just like that. Young master, these are thank-you gifts from the Jiang family. You must accept them.”

Gui Diao Tang: “……”

Human gold and silver trinkets had no meaning whatsoever to demons. When he remained silent, Jiang Yiru had the servants carry those boxes into his courtyard. Seemingly because of this, she felt her relationship with Gui Diao Tang had grown closer by a step, so she often secretly ran away from her family to find Gui Diao Tang.

“Young master, young master, are you going to the trading hall today too? I had people inquire – there’s been no Lili Grass brought to the hall these past few days. Should we look elsewhere?”

“Young master, besides Lili Grass, do you need other materials? My family is familiar with all the merchants in the city. If there’s anything inconvenient for you, just tell me.”

“Is this your first time here? Would you like me to take you to try our local wine and dishes?”

She was always very enthusiastic, striving to leave a trace in his life. Gui Diao Tang watched this human woman’s chattering with cold eyes. She was too noisy – if it were another demon with a worse temper seeing her so clamorous, they might have killed her directly.

But Gui Diao Tang acquiesced to Jiang Yiru’s approach. It wasn’t for any other reason – he simply felt this human woman was too fragile, so fragile that he didn’t even need to take action; she would find it difficult to stay alive on her own.

Getting caught in the wind on rainy days would make her catch a cold and fall sick, seeing insects and mice would frighten her face pale, and after hearing storytellers tell tales of spirits and monsters, she wouldn’t dare stick her head out from under the covers at night… Human women were fragile and timid, like easily broken porcelain.

But she was also very bold. Though he spoke coldly and, despite restraining his demonic aura, the chill emanating from his entire being made even the cultivators in the trading hall afraid to approach, this woman seemed completely unaware and often came to find him.

She thought Gui Diao Tang was a reclusive cultivator who had come down from the mountains. Knowing that people in the trading hall called him “Master Tang,” she also called him “Master Tang.” She found his dwelling too cold and empty, so every few days she would go pick a large bunch of wildflowers to place in the blue porcelain vase on the table in his room.

Her boldness grew day by day. Sometimes when Gui Diao Tang went to the trading hall and she came looking but couldn’t find him, she would familiarly push open the door and enter by herself. She would arrange the pastries and wine she had bought on his table and wait for his return. If he didn’t come back after a long wait, she would leave on her own.

Human food had no benefit whatsoever for demons, but since she brought it daily, Gui Diao Tang inevitably became curious. Sometimes when he returned late and saw the exquisite pastries arranged on the table, he finally couldn’t resist tasting a little.

The moment it entered his mouth, his brow furrowed slightly – it was quite too sweet.

Jiang Yiru was the first human to get so close to him, though this was only under the premise that she didn’t know his demon identity. One day, when he returned to his room, he found Jiang Yiru sitting at the table with an open blue paper umbrella in front of her and a brush and ink arranged on the table. This young lady was painting on his umbrella.

Gui Diao Tang’s pupils suddenly contracted: “What are you doing?”

Jiang Yiru was startled and said: “I… I saw that your umbrella was rather plain. The oil-paper umbrellas sold in our city’s shops all have patterns on them… I wanted to help you paint some…” Her voice gradually grew smaller.

Gui Diao Tang looked at the blue paper umbrella before him, his expression extremely ugly.

Jiang Yiru seemed to realize something and looked at him anxiously: “Did I… cause trouble?”

Gui Diao Tang calmed down and said indifferently: “No.”

Jiang Yiru’s expression relaxed, but before she could speak, she heard Gui Diao Tang’s cold voice: “Don’t come here anymore in the future.”

She looked at Gui Diao Tang uncomprehendingly, then her eyes gradually reddened. Without saying anything, she left quickly.

Gui Diao Tang turned to look at the blue paper umbrella on the table.

This was not an ordinary blue paper umbrella – it should be considered one of his magical artifacts. It was a magical artifact he had refined using a thousand-year purple bamboo and qilin ice silkworm silk, capable of withstanding part of the tribulation lightning. Now that his cultivation was nearly at the breakthrough point, the tribulation lightning would likely arrive soon. This blue paper umbrella had his demonic essence sealed within it, making it appear like an ordinary paper umbrella. With Jiang Yiru painting on it, the umbrella’s efficacy would be damaged.

And it had to happen at this time.

Gui Diao Tang, who usually never showed joy or anger, felt somewhat troubled.

However, this trouble didn’t entirely come from the damaged magical artifact, but also from the restrained tears in the eyes of the woman who had just left.

He shouldn’t have gotten so close to humans. In the stories that Heishi City’s storytellers told daily, when humans and demons got too close, the endings were always tragic. Although most of those stories were fabricated, they weren’t entirely groundless either.

He looked at the blue paper umbrella on the table. This umbrella had previously only had a plain layer of blue, like a shallow glaze on porcelain, but now it had become vibrant. Jiang Yiru’s painting skills were very good. With just a bit more ink color and a few strokes, she had outlined the misty rain of a small town.

Orioles singing and swallows dancing, willows by the lakeside swaying gently, a stone bridge spanning the lake surface, boats wrapped in gauze curtains drifting downstream in the lake. And in the misty drizzle, a blue-robed man held an oil-paper umbrella, hidden between heaven and earth.

That was himself.