The sound of the wind slowly passed by his ears, and the strands of white ribbon covering his eyes trailed behind, swaying gently.
Yun Mu sat cross-legged atop the Maple Leaf Device, dressed in a simple white robe.
His legs were folded neatly, and faint starlight power circulated around him.
Under the moonlight, the Star Children swirled around him like a shimmering rainbow, their presence intimate and childlike.
“You’re… cultivating…?”
Beside him, Qin Luoyi, who had been lying on her side reading, noticed his movements as if she had discovered a treasure.
She closed the book in her hands, shifted slightly to the side, and propped herself up on her elbows, resting her chin just above the ground.
She quietly watched the starlight power circulating, her deep green eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“Mm…”
A simple reply, without even a second word escaping.
“It’s really true, huh? I thought you only had a physique more attuned to starlight power, but I didn’t expect you to actually cultivate it. Could it be… Lin Xizhi who taught you?”
“Mm… yes, Master taught me…”
Still just one sentence, but the girl didn’t get angry.
Of course, it wasn’t because she was used to the boy’s attitude — on the contrary, she disliked it.
Yet, she simply lacked the energy for such pointless quarrels.
So, she only showed a gentle smile and kindly advised, “Xiao Yunzi, you know… if it weren’t for the fact that I have to use almost a third of my strength to activate this device, with your attitude, I would’ve already come over and hit you.”
“Rather than hitting me, I’d prefer you use your dagger to cut me.”
Yun Mu withdrew his hands resting on his knees and slightly turned toward the voice, the faint smile tugging at his lips causing Qin Luoyi’s body to tremble.
“Y-you won’t have some weird fetish, will you?”
she stammered, clearly never expecting such a blunt, somewhat perverse answer.
“Or could it be that you’ve been possessed by some demonic cultivator without me knowing!?”
“Sorry, I don’t have any weird fetishes, nor have I been possessed. I only say that because your dagger doesn’t really hurt. Besides… didn’t you say before? That I lost the Emotion Soul when the Glazed Bone was taken away. Could it be… you’re hiding some other side effects from me?”
“No, you’re mine now; why would I hide anything from you?”
She lifted her small feet and wiggled them left and right, watching his face with interest.
“By the way, Xiao Yunzi, besides emotional numbness, have you felt anything else since your bone was taken?”
“Anything else?”
“Mm, yes. Like a loss of appetite, a huge increase in **, or suddenly wanting to throw yourself at a stunningly beautiful woman nearby?”
The girl made a strange analogy, sitting up and leaning forward until their knees touched, then casually summoned a brush and notebook out of thin air, planning to write down everything he said next.
Medical Technique was still her greatest passion, but now what fascinated her most was studying the boy before her.
“You say such strange things, but don’t worry… even if I weren’t blind, I wouldn’t do something as powerless as throwing myself at you, much less now that I am blind.”
He said this while raising a hand to feel his chin, thinking seriously for a moment.
“As for appetite, it seems no different from usual…”
“What do you mean! Are you saying I’m not beautiful enough to captivate a nation!?”
The clueless answer made the girl feel both embarrassed and angry.
She pinched the flesh on Yun Mu’s arm and gritted her teeth accusingly.
“I think you have some weird fetish, saying those things just to anger me, so I’ll throw myself at you in retaliation!”
Feeling the sudden pain in his arm, Yun Mu just shook his head.
His previous answer was sincere. He had seen the girl’s appearance — she was stunningly beautiful, and words like “captivating a nation” fit her perfectly.
But for him to throw himself at her right now?
That was quite impossible.
Such behavior, in his view, was completely inconsistent with a normal man’s—or rather, a normal person’s—behavior.
As for the idea of the girl throwing herself at him, that was pure nonsense, so he rejected that so-called “accusation.”
He gently shook his head twice again.
Seeing Yun Mu’s serious expression, Qin Luoyi was completely at a loss.
She silently chanted in her heart, “He is mine, he is mine…” to suppress her rising anger.
She pouted and said seriously, “Are you really feeling nothing else?”
“There is a little difference.”
“What? Hurry up and say it, or I really will hit you.”
She waved her arm as if to make peace, stirring a small breeze in front of him.
“I found… my power seems to be drained. Though I can still quickly absorb those little balls — no, the starlight power — they mysteriously leak away. The speed isn’t fast, but it affects me quite a bit.”
“Little balls… starlight power… leaking…”
The girl copied his words verbatim, without pausing to consider why he had hesitated.
She was just taking shorthand.
As for content refinement, that would come later.
She looked at the notes she had written, repeating the unfamiliar terms several times.
The novelty excited her, but the next sentence from the boy made her completely lose control.
“However, I felt this ever since Xun Yi Sister kidnapped me, so it probably isn’t the Glazed Bone’s fault.”
No sooner had he spoken than the Maple Leaf Device beneath him began to shake violently.
Then came the sound of tearing paper — a paper ball was hurled right at him.
Yun Mu raised his hand and rubbed his nose, which was slightly reddened by the impact, then chuckled softly.
He bent down to pick up the paper ball that landed in his lap and just as he was about to return it to the girl, he suddenly lost control and tilted to the right.
The sensation of weightlessness swept over his entire body, and then the roaring sound of the wind blew past his ears.
After losing his sight, his other four senses had become remarkably sharp, so…
His sixth sense told him he had about three seconds left before he would have an intimate encounter with the ground — a backward kind of kiss.
But… he didn’t kiss the earth as expected.
When he was still about a fist away from the ground, a sudden force grabbed him and suspended him midair.
He knew it must be Qin Luoyi softening her heart.
“Luoyi, you didn’t have to help me, since it was really my fault for teasing you.”
“Who’s helping you? I just don’t want to get entangled in Fate.”
“Fa…te?”
“Yes. If I’d thrown you on the ground in front of your Master and she really is dead, it would have definitely tied Fate to me. Honestly… I’m pretty scared of ghosts.”
Feeling himself gently turned upright and set back down, Yun Mu said nothing further.
Beneath his feet… was a familiar texture.
He squatted, touching the earth full of his footprints, roughly understanding where he was.
He took two steps forward and stopped, raising a hand and unsurprisingly touching a small Stone Tablet.
The rough carving read “Lin Xizhi,” and the sensation beneath his fingers stirred waves inside him.
His rational mind told him he should feel sorrowful now.
His trembling right hand told him he was moved.
Even his tears told him he was already caught in Seeking Farewell.
But… oddly, his emotions didn’t swell further.
It was as if the grave before him belonged to a stranger.
At that moment, the boy, who had barely cared about his emotional richness before, felt a strange sensation named “It shouldn’t be this way.”
His hand gently caressed the tablet, but a faint smile of Separation curved his lips.
He didn’t want their meeting to be filled with sadness like last time.
Then, stepping back two paces, he knelt down with a “thud” and performed three kowtows, then rose and bowed three more times before stopping.
“Luoyi… although it’s a bit unethical to add some conditions on the spot… do you have any way to recover my emotions?”
“Nope.”
“Is that so… what a pity…”
“However,”
the girl took small, quick steps to his side and hugged him, “I can accompany you to slowly find a way. After all… I will help you formally begin cultivating. Then, in theory, your lifespan will become infinite…”
Feeling the softness pressed against his face, he softly responded with a hum.
Then, only endless silence remained.
Silence…
An unusually deep silence.
Suddenly looking up, a familiar feeling surged in Yun Mu’s heart.
This sensation of time freezing was something he had felt during his first clash with Shangguan Ce.
It was that sudden intervention of power that allowed Shangguan Ce to survive a bit longer.
Naturally, he categorized the newcomer as unfriendly.
“Who’s there?”
He lightly shielded the much taller girl behind him and released all the starlight power he had just gathered.
For him, “better to die a jade than live a tile” was the best strategy.
The rustling of leaves came faintly to his ears, followed by a familiar yet lazy voice.
“Little guy, haven’t seen you for just a few days and you’ve already forgotten me?”
“You’re…”
Yun Mu hesitated, then quickly recalled who matched the voice.
“You’re that gourd seller?”
“That’s right~ Looks like you still remember me, Hu Delu. Well, it makes sense… after all, there’s no sugar gourd seller more handsome than me anywhere in the world, right?”
“What do you want? Whose side are you on? Why did you interfere with me killing Shangguan Ce last time?”
“Whose side am I on? Naturally, I am… Wait, how do you know it was me who interfered last time?”
Hu Delu was about to casually chat some more but was cut off by that question.
He hadn’t figured out how such a powerless little guy could sense his peak sixth-turn strength.
But soon, he didn’t want to think about it anymore.
He glanced at the boy protecting Qin Luoyi and raised an eyebrow.
“Whatever. My job this time is just to take you away. I don’t care about anything else.”
Without waiting for Yun Mu’s response, he flicked his right hand lightly.
A flash of starlight passed, and the boy who had just been able to move freely froze in place.
Hu Delu cheerfully stepped forward, inspecting their movements from all sides before moving behind Yun Mu.
He easily pried apart the slender jade hands protecting his back and then, like carrying a sugar gourd, hoisted him up.
“Heyo, this whole thing looks like a kidnapping, but I’m actually taking you back to Baiyao to enjoy life. Don’t hold a grudge against me, kiddo.”
Humming a little tune, he strode away like the wind, leaving behind a snapping finger sound that echoed long after.
“Snap!”
“Ah, my little Yunzi really is adorable…”
Qin Luoyi, back to normal, reached out to stroke the boy’s head — but her hands met only emptiness.
She lowered her gaze to the inexplicably vacant embrace, the once so big Yun Mu had suddenly disappeared.
Instinctively, she searched around but saw no trace of him.
“How strange, where’s my Yun Mu? Who took my little Yunzi… who exactly…?”
She murmured softly as her aura rose, and the Death Power unique to Life Force surged forth.
In an instant, all the birds, beasts, insects, and fish nearby stirred, eager to flee — only to lose their life the moment they touched her.
The girl covered her face, her murderous intent growing obvious.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to draw a Blood-Glazed Pill from her Qian Kun Bag, swallowing it whole.
Then she sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and entered meditation to regulate her breath.
Her aura gradually retracted, the Death Power slowly dissipated.
After a long time, Qin Luoyi finally opened her eyes, her emotions calm once more.
She stood and glanced at the empty ground.
Looking down, she finally noticed a small, out-of-place plaque lying at her feet.
Bending over, she picked it up.
The characters “Baiyao” were carved in the center, and a smile curved her lips.
“Baiyao? The demon clan? So that’s how it is? Interesting. Looks like I need to pay a visit to my father…”
Above the border between Baiyao and Lixun, Hu Delu hovered midair, watching Qin Luoyi’s dissipating aura.
He sighed deeply, scratched his head, and shifted Yun Mu to his left shoulder.
“Really, I don’t know why the Empress made me keep such obvious evidence of my identity.”
“I dunno either, and I don’t wanna ask.”
Drifting away, another little tune floated on the breeze.
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