The night was heavy.
No moon, and the stars were sparse.
Clouds churned beneath the flying ship, like a boundless dark ocean.
The ship cut through the night wind, its hull occasionally letting out a few “creak” sounds, like an old man coughing.
Most of the cabins had already turned off their lights.
After the fierce battle during the day, the disciples rested early.
The corridor was very quiet.
Occasionally, a disciple on duty would walk by, deliberately lightening their steps.
Lin An lay on the bed in his small room, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
He was thinking about things.
He didn’t know if Lu Mingyue would come tonight.
At this moment, what surged in his heart were more of the scenes from the day.
‘How powerful would the real thing be?’
‘So strong.’
‘Really strong.’
‘So that was what that woman looked like when she went all out.’
Lin An closed his eyes, but the image of the full moon falling was still in his mind.
‘Being reborn in such a martial world, how could I not want to cultivate?’
‘Before, there was no way. Over a dozen years, the experience bar only grew a little.’
‘I accepted it, thinking it was fine to just coast through life.’
‘But now it’s different.’
‘That Primordial Hunyuan Qi gave me immense confidence. Although it hasn’t moved since, at least it proves I can cultivate.’
‘I just lack an opportunity, a method, someone to tell me what to do.’
‘A treasure mountain with no way in—that’s my current state.’
“Ah…”
Lin An sighed and turned over to face the inside.
“Why are you sighing?”
A cold voice suddenly sounded, startling him so much that he almost screamed.
He turned abruptly.
Beside his bed stood a person.
Purple Cloud Smoke Luo Skirt, black hair pinned up, White Jade Hairpin slanting in her hair, lips upturned, dimples shallowly appearing.
It was Lu Mingyue.
‘When did you come? How did you get in? This time you didn’t even knock, did you!’
Even though he had anticipated it, now that she had actually come, Lin An still didn’t know what to say.
“Pavilion Master Lu, cough cough,” he lowered his voice, “how, how did you get in?”
Lu Mingyue tilted her head.
“Walked in.”
“No one noticed?”
“No.”
“Alright…”
Lin An opened his mouth, then swallowed the words back.
He felt that no matter how much he said to this abnormal woman, it was useless.
‘Fine, you’re impressive. You call the shots.’
He sat up, looking at the smiling woman in front of him.
The smile on her face still had an indescribable sense of incongruity, as if imitating, or carved on.
They were silent for a few seconds.
Lu Mingyue sat down beside Lin An.
Her skirt spread out, the purple fabric glowing with a soft luster under the dim light.
She turned to Lin An.
“What were you sighing about just now?”
Lin An didn’t answer, instead asking back, “Are you still going to cultivate tonight? This place isn’t suitable, right?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lu Mingyue said as she raised her hand and drew a rune on the wall.
“Now, no one will know what happens in this room.”
“…”
The corner of Lin An’s mouth twitched.
He felt that the sentence sounded strange, as if there was another meaning.
“Your consumption during the day was great, right? Are you okay?”
He just asked casually, but he didn’t expect Lu Mingyue to answer honestly.
“He is very strong, and his talent is very high. I suffered some internal injuries, but it’s nothing serious. Cultivation is important.”
“…”
Lin An slowly typed a question mark.
This was already the umpteenth time Lu Mingyue had left him speechless.
‘Injured and still want to cultivate? I think you’re just addicted!’
“Well…”
Lin An didn’t know what to say.
“How about we do it another day? It doesn’t have to be so punctual, right? Wait until you recover?”
“No.”
Lu Mingyue shook her head, raised her hand, and removed her hairpin.
“Time cannot be delayed. Not even a day. Let’s start. Lie down.”
“…”
‘What could I do? I had to endure it!’
“Oh, by the way.”
Just before entering the cultivation state, she suddenly said something that made Lin An’s neck hair stand on end.
“Oh, by the way, since you seem to like it, I’ll have Qing Han buy more of this kind of clothing later.”
Lin An: (⊙△⊙?)
He suddenly felt that his colleague seemed to have one more reason to kill him.
Guanlan Port.
A super city built by the sea.
When the flying ship arrived, it was already the next morning.
“Junior Brother Lin, look at that! How interesting!”
Qu Hongling pointed at a roadside stall where the vendor was making sugar paintings on the spot.
Lin An glanced at it.
“Do you want to eat?”
“Want to eat!”
Qu Hongling’s eyes sparkled, completely unlike a murderous demon cultivator.
“Buy it yourself.”
Lin An did not forget to maintain his persona in front of this woman privately.
“Hmm…”
Qu Hongling’s expression froze for a moment, but she quickly adjusted.
She bought a sugar painting herself, took a bite, and her eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
“Sweet!”
Lin An watched her, sighing inwardly.
‘What is this woman up to again?’
While puzzled, he was also thinking about another matter.
Had Lu Mingyue discovered that he was the one behind yesterday’s explosion?
Last night, the Spiritual Power Armor that Lin An hadn’t taken off was naturally discovered by Lu Mingyue.
But she just thought about it for a moment, then said something Lin An didn’t quite understand.
“You should minimize contact with Gu Yingge.”
Minimize contact?
Why?
Lu Mingyue did not give him an answer, nor did she say anything more.
‘Jealousy?’
‘Heh, that’s the least likely option.’
Lin An couldn’t figure it out.
He just had an intuition that it shouldn’t be a good thing.
Because this was the first time Lu Mingyue had concealed something from him.
Beside him, Qu Hongling was eating sugar while carefully observing Lin An’s reaction.
She was not sure if the Holy Son had discovered that she deliberately let a person in yesterday.
She felt that he probably hadn’t.
If he had, the Holy Son wouldn’t be so calm; he would have punished her long ago.
But speaking of which, as expected, this Junior Brother Lin was the Holy Son, right!
She had found out that Lin An used a high-level talisman yesterday to deal with that demonic path disciple quite cruelly.
Cold-blooded and ruthless, a demon cultivator!
Moreover, she had also found out that Lin An seemed to have connections within the Game of Swords Pavilion.
‘Who else could it be? The Senior Sister, of course.’
‘It all matches up. It all matches up. I said my speculation wouldn’t be wrong!’
This time she brought Lin An out, on one hand to get more contact with him and foster some feelings.
Although the effect was minimal…
On the other hand, it was to let him see her professional ability and prove that she was very useful.
“Holy Son.”
Qu Hongling suddenly pulled Lin An to a secluded spot and spoke in a low voice.
“Hmm?”
Lin An’s heart trembled.
As soon as this title came out, this woman was probably going to stir up trouble again.
“Our sect also has a stronghold in Guanlan Port. Would you like to come with me to take a look?”
Lin An frowned.
“You should know what I’m doing. I can’t be exposed.”
“Of course I know, so I specially prepared this for you.”
Qu Hongling took out something that looked like a piece of skin.
“This is an artifact that can conceal one’s appearance. Once you wear it, you will look like a different person. No one will notice.”
Well, this was a good thing.
Lin An could actually use it.
And… it would be good to learn more about the operations of the Demon Soul Sect here.
At least it would help him play the Holy Son better.