Lu Xingzhou lowered his head, gazing into Du Guchingli’s clean, pure blue eyes.

In her own way, she had asked the most beautiful question of love: “My heart is willing to move with you; can you always illuminate me?”

Looking into those eyes, as clear as琉璃 (liúlí, glazed tile), Lu Xingzhou felt unworthy, especially after his possessiveness towards Jiang Yuanqi earlier, right in front of her.

Perhaps that was precisely why she had asked the second part of her question.

Lu Xingzhou gently reached out and embraced her, kissing her forehead, then continued downwards.

Du Guchingli closed her eyes and felt a kiss on her eyelids.

The little white-haired girl’s thoughts were a bit muddled. Kissing her forehead conveyed his affection, kissing her lips conveyed his desire, but what did kissing her eyelids mean?

It seemed to be affection too.

It was strange how one kiss could convey so many emotions.

Seeing the little white-haired girl’s dazed expression, Lu Xingzhou smiled faintly and took her hand again. “As long as I live.”

Du Guchingli thought for a moment before realizing that he was responding to the second half of her question: whether they would always illuminate each other.

As long as he lived.

That was good; he wouldn’t die.

The young girl held his broad, warm hand, following closely beside him. In her other hand, she clutched the Binglin flower he had casually plucked earlier, feeling a strange, slightly uncoordinated sensation as she walked, like her arms and legs were moving together.

So this was what “flowers before the moon” felt like; it could make one forget how to walk.

But the flower was clearly in her hand.

Slowly, however, the nervous, uncoordinated feeling faded, becoming smoother and more serene. The girl looked down at their footsteps, both stepping with their right foot, then both with their left, together crunching footprints into the thin snow on the mountain path. It looked so neat and playful.

Except for the footprints being one large and one small, not quite as neat. If only his foot could be a little smaller.

The moon was in front, their shadows behind. Looking back, although their heights weren’t that different, their shadows stretched them far apart, making him seem like a giant, providing an extra sense of security.

Yes, as long as he lived, Qingli would not be alone.

Someone would push her out of a sea of fire; someone would stand in front of her against an ice punch.

Master’s eyes were growing more distant, almost forgotten… What did that have to do with her? I was here first.

They walked without speaking, both enjoying the tranquil stroll hand in hand under the moon. The girl’s thoughts were unusually lively, something she had never experienced during her cultivation, yet amidst the liveliness, there was a strong sense of peace and openness, and many things that had once troubled her heart simply faded away.

“Lu Xingzhou…” Du Guchingli suddenly called out in a low voice, breaking the moonlight’s silence.

Lu Xingzhou was also enjoying the quiet walk with her, feeling very relaxed. He responded with an “Mmm.”

The girl’s clear, cool voice carried a hint of childlike innocence: “You don’t need her protection; I will protect you.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…Okay.”

“I… I need to go cultivate. Don’t take me to your room.”

“…I wasn’t planning on taking you to my room. In fact, the rooms here weren’t arranged by me; Si Han is handling that.”

Ahead were rows of guesthouses. Si Han’s people were already peeking out, ready to guide them to their assigned rooms to rest. Du Guchingli didn’t know why she suddenly thought of sleeping together; perhaps it was because she had grown too accustomed to it in the Xuan Snake Secret Realm in recent days.

But it wouldn’t be good to sleep together like that after leaving. First of all, it would get back to Master.

“I still need to think about what to do if Master finds out…” the girl said.

Lu Xingzhou knew he also had to face Ye Tinglan’s wrath. “About this… I’ll talk to her.”

“Don’t tell her yet. I’ll tell her. I have my reasons.”

Lu Xingzhou was amused by her, and didn’t answer for a moment.

But what reasons could she possibly have? The “I was here first” reason? Or the “I’m just stealing a man from an unfamiliar martial aunt, not from my master” reason? Lu Xingzhou imagined the little white-haired girl seriously presenting these arguments and felt that her master might beat her to death.

This matter would probably still require Marquis Lu to use his sweet-talking logic, which was the truly effective approach…

“Marquis.” Si Han’s arranged subordinates came forward, bowing obsequiously. “The guesthouses are ready. Please follow me, both of you.”

Du Guchingli said, “Make sure they’re two separate rooms, don’t get it wrong.”

The other party glanced at the Binglin flower in her hand and cleared his throat. “Of course. You two are pure and innocent; how could you be in one room?”

Du Guchingli, quite satisfied, followed his subordinate. After a few steps, she turned back, raised the flower in her hand, and shook it. “Lu Xingzhou, I really like this flower. I won’t let it die.”

Si Han’s subordinates hung their heads, almost afraid to listen. After just two sentences, their left and right brains were battling. Did they even want to keep it a secret?

Lu Xingzhou waved his hand. “Get some good rest. See you tomorrow.”

Watching the little white-haired girl enter the guesthouse courtyard, Lu Xingzhou, in good spirits, followed his subordinate to his own courtyard, which was actually next door.

The subordinate bowed respectfully. “The bedding and everything inside have been completely replaced. Please use it with peace of mind, Marquis.”

Lu Xingzhou asked, “Are the people from Yanluo Hall and Miss Jiang settled?”

“They are all settled.”

“Has Yan Jun not left?”

“No, she’s resting. Does the Marquis want to see her?”

“Not really.” Lu Xingzhou just found it very strange. He didn’t know what Yuan Muyu intended to do, actually staying here.

The person he truly wanted to see was Ji Wenchuang. “Please invite the Eastern Ghost Emperor to chat. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a drink with him.”

“I’m here.” Ji Wenchuang’s voice came from above, and he appeared before them in a flash.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come back,” Ji Wenchuang said with a smile, pulling out several bottles of wine, and even some specialty side dishes from the Ice Prison Sect, setting up a table.

Today was snowless, with a bright moon and sparse stars, making it good weather for outdoor drinking and chatting.

Though it was a bit cold.

Ji Wenchuang poured Lu Xingzhou a cup of wine and chuckled, “In this kind of weather, you used to bundle up tightly before going out, let alone drinking outdoors. Even if I wanted to invite you, Yan Jun would scold me… Uh.”

Lu Xingzhou raised his cup and clinked it against his, smiling. “Why talk about her? It’s rare for us brothers to reunite; don’t we have our own things to talk about?”

“Are you serious? We met during the bone dragon incident. You only cared about Ye Tinglan, and even stuffed A’Nuo to me to take away.”

“…That situation was special. Tinglan and I later went south to Shadowmoon City for something important. Besides, didn’t you get a free bone dragon? Isn’t that enough for you to be happy?”

“Oh, Tinglan.” Ji Wenchuang pointed to the next room. “Then who is she?”

Lu Xingzhou drank in silence.

“Why have you changed so much?” Ji Wenchuang said, disappointed. “You used to be such an honest, child-rearing young man. A gentle embrace is a hero’s grave. Women only slow down the speed of drawing a sword.”

“Tsk, Yan Jun must have been brainwashed by you guys.”

“Who can brainwash her? Don’t you know how stubborn she is? You couldn’t even brainwash her. How could we? We’re the ones she brainwashed. Uh, no, which bastard just said, ‘Why talk about her? We brothers have our own things to say’?”

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and snatched the wine pot to fill his cup. “Alright, there’s no way around it.”

Indeed, when facing a mutual friend, how could they avoid talking about the person who had occupied the first half of their lives?

Ji Wenchuang picked up an ice bean and popped it into his mouth. “If we can’t avoid it, then let’s talk about it. She’s now in a wheelchair every day, saying she’s experiencing your past life. I think she genuinely knows she was wrong. What do you think?”

Ji Wenchuang absolutely couldn’t say he was secretly cursing “acting like your mother,” feeling that his conversations with Lu Xingzhou might be eavesdropped on. It was better to say something positive.

In fact, Yuan Muyu had been mentally observing Lu Xingzhou and Du Guchingli’s peaceful stroll, listening to the girl’s innocent and pure words. However, after Du Guchingli entered the guesthouse courtyard, she cut off her divine sense and did not listen to the two men’s conversation.

Observing those moments was a longing for the happiness she believed she deserved.

As for the men’s conversation, there should still be some boundaries.

She was also never the kind of superior who liked to control every aspect of her subordinates’ lives; rather, it was the opposite—she didn’t particularly like to meddle in others’ private affairs… even though she knew that Ji Wenchuang and Lu Xingzhou’s conversation would largely revolve around her.

Yuan Muyu continued to sit quietly by the cliff for a while, then wheeled herself back to her guesthouse and pulled out the Channü Xuan Gong for study.

During the soul-searching of the Xuan Nü’s divine sense, even though Xuan Nü dissipated her divine soul quickly, Yuan Muyu still captured a bit of the core of Channü Xuan Gong. With this technique, she wanted to try to deduce the complete text.

If she could derive the complete Channü Xuan Gong, and then reverse-engineer the Yin-Yang Extreme Intent Dao cultivation part… that would be Xingzhou’s Dao foundation.

On the other side, Lu Xingzhou, faced with Ji Wenchuang’s “What do you think?” question, quietly sipped his wine. After a long time, he said, “To be honest, I really used to think she didn’t love me. You know how she treated me. How could someone who loves another person act like she did?”

“No, I wouldn’t know how someone who loves another acts.”

“…You wouldn’t even treat a friend that way, you know that much, right?”

“That’s true.” Ji Wenchuang sighed. “But now?”

“Now I’m a little confused, but overall, I still don’t trust it… After all, I never believed in that strange, idiotic logic of not loving someone before, and then suddenly loving them after they’ve left. I also don’t have that much free time to analyze what she’s thinking.”

“What if she is idiotic?”

Lu Xingzhou: “…Are you trying to die?”

Ji Wenchuang recoiled, glanced around, and finally gave up. “Sigh, whatever. Some things, if you hold them in too long, will kill you.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Ji Wenchuang said, “Although I don’t understand your love affairs, honestly, in the past few years, I really thought you two were a couple. That clinginess couldn’t possibly be faked. If you say there was no love, I truly don’t quite believe it. Maybe later things just went awry… But she’s a person who is arrogant and stubborn, so the things she did were a bit hard to judge…”

Lu Xingzhou said, “So you’re trying to reconcile us? I thought brothers always advised breaking up…”

“It’s not exactly reconciliation. With the messed-up things she did, if it were me, I’d also turn hostile. How could I advise you to reconcile?” Ji Wenchuang said. “It’s just a suggestion to observe more, and not jump to conclusions about ‘no love’ or anything. She used to be arrogant and stubborn, but now she’s so regretful she sits in a wheelchair every day. As your brother, I don’t want you to repeat the same mistakes and end up being the one with regrets.”

Lu Xingzhou nodded, raised his cup in a toast. “Cheers.”

They clinked cups again, and Lu Xingzhou wiped his mouth, then said with some hesitation, “Old Ji…”

“Hmm?”

“If you have some free time, pay more attention to Situ Yue.”

“What?” Ji Wenchuang’s eyes sharpened. “Do you suspect she has a problem?”

“A little, but it’s just suspicion, no evidence. You know, she’s subtly targeted me before. If I say anything, it would seem like personal revenge or prejudice, so there’s really nothing I can say. But keep an eye out privately, just in case?” Lu Xingzhou’s eyes were deep. “Anyway, for you, targeting her is perfectly normal, just an internal power struggle.”