Nine Heavens Sect, Outer Gate Peak.
The setting sun’s afterglow dyed the endless green pines a layer of orange-red.
The carriage convoy finally returned to the Outer Gate’s square.
Along the entire journey, Steward Mo Feng had treated Lin Yue like a living ancestor.
When Lin Yue got off the carriage, Mo Feng even wanted to personally go over and act as his footstool, but was forcefully scared back when Lin Yue slammed the black iron heavy sword into the ground.
“Mister Lin, please take your time. Should I send two clever disciples to clean your room for you?”
Mo Feng rubbed his hands together, his smile more fawning than the blooming mountain flowers of spring.
“Not necessary.”
Lin Yue let out a long yawn, hoisting the heavy sword onto his shoulder.
“My doghouse might be shabby, but it’s comfortable to live in. Steward Mo, remember the ‘script’ we agreed on at Dragon’s Mouth Gorge. I, Lin Yue, am just a useless Outer Gate disciple who hid shivering under the carriage. Got it?”
“Got it! Absolutely got it! Junior Brother Lin has lofty principles, hiding his achievements and fame. This senior brother admires you to the utmost!”
Mo Feng thumped his chest so hard it sounded like thunder.
Lin Yue nodded with satisfaction and turned, heading towards the most remote, Ding-designated servant area of the Outer Gate.
Without Wang Pangzi chattering beside him, the small path up the mountain felt exceptionally tranquil.
A gentle breeze brushed past, bringing waves of the sound of wind through the pines.
Lin Yue felt for the two items in his robe.
One was the deed to the Chen Family Villa that Chen Yao had given him, the other was the green inner sect jade token from Chu Wanning.
‘Not a bad haul from this trip down the mountain.’
Lin Yue stretched, feeling his bones crackle and pop.
‘Now all I need is a soft bed and a sleep-in until the sun is high in the sky.’
However.
When he sauntered over, dragging the iron pillar, to the door of his own dilapidated thatched hut.
His footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
Something was wrong.
Lin Yue’s eyes instantly became ten times sharper than when he faced the Foundation Establishment stage assassin at Dragon’s Mouth Gorge.
His originally rusted, creaky wooden door that would shriek “screech” when pushed open was now completely renewed.
The years of grime on the door panel had been wiped clean, not a speck of dust remained, and it even exuded a faint scent of pinewood.
The most terrifying thing was.
On the rusted door knocker, a pink silk bow was now neatly tied.
The knotting technique was extremely exquisite, every fold perfectly symmetrical to the point it made one’s scalp tingle.
“Buzz—”
In his consciousness sea, the Book of Karmic Entanglements, which had been silent the whole journey, suddenly began vibrating wildly.
The pages flipped with a rustle, crimson characters flooding his mind in a frantic stream:
“Alert! Alert! Alert!”
“Detected presence of an extremely dangerous biological entity within host’s lair!”
“Danger Level: Immeasurable.”
“Biological Characteristics: Extremely sweet. Extremely lethal.”
“System Suggestion: Turn around immediately. Flee down the mountain overnight. Go seek refuge with that pure-hearted young widow. Never return to the Nine Heavens Sect again!”
Lin Yue swallowed hard.
There was only one person in the entire Outer Gate of the Nine Heavens Sect who could scare this damn ledger to such an extent.
An Xiaoxiao.
That “good junior sister” who gave him the “Love Token Fruit,” smiled like a porcelain doll, yet could bury someone alive without batting an eye.
‘Escape is impossible. Could never escape in this lifetime.’
Lin Yue took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the iron pillar behind his back.
‘I’m a man destined to become the Demon Emperor. How can I be scared off by a pink bow?’
He reached out and gently pushed the door open.
No creaking sound.
The door hinge had clearly been meticulously oiled, sliding open with an impossibly smooth motion.
The scene inside the room made Lin Yue think he had walked onto the wrong set.
The corner that was originally piled with dirty clothes was now empty, replaced by a pot of vibrant pink flowers in full bloom.
The drafty window had been patched with brand-new peach blossom paper.
Even his dog’s nest of a hard plank bed was now covered with a soft, white cloud-silk quilt.
At the head of the bed, two coarse cloth shirts, washed clean and smelling of soapberries, were neatly folded.
And in the very center of the room.
On a freshly wiped wooden table, a small red clay stove was set up.
On the stove, a clay pot was bubbling “gurgle gurgle” with steam.
A rich meaty aroma mixed with a strange, herbal scent permeated the entire room.
Beside the stove stood a petite figure.
An Xiaoxiao was wearing an extremely delicate, goose-yellow long dress today, with a pink apron printed with little rabbit patterns over it.
Her hair was simply tied back with a red string, a few stray strands falling beside her fair cheeks, making her look incomparably gentle and obedient.
Hearing the door open, she turned her head, a wooden soup ladle still in her hand.
“Senior Brother Lin, you’re back~”
Her voice was as sweet as osmanthus cake soaked in honey.
Her large, watery eyes curved into beautiful crescent shapes, a shallow dimple appearing at each corner of her smiling mouth, looking utterly innocent.
To an uninformed observer, this would absolutely be a beautiful picture of “the virtuous wife waiting for her husband’s return.”
But Lin Yue felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
Because he noticed that when An Xiaoxiao had been stirring the soup earlier, the wooden ladle scraping across the boiling clay pot made a sound eerily similar to metal cutting through bone.
“Xiao… Xiaoxiao Junior Sister, what are you doing here?”
Lin Yue forced out a simple, honest smile, carefully leaning the heavy iron pillar against the wall by the door.
“I saw that Senior Brother must be tired from going down the mountain for a mission, so I came to help tidy up your room.”
An Xiaoxiao put down the ladle, hopped over to Lin Yue, and very naturally reached out to take the dirty outer robe he was taking off.
“Ah, no need, no need, I can do it. It’s very dirty,” Lin Yue quickly dodged back.
“Does Senior Brother dislike Xiaoxiao?”
An Xiaoxiao’s hand stopped mid-air.
Her face, bright as spring just a moment ago, visibly dimmed in an instant.
Her eyes rapidly filled with tears, looking so aggrieved she seemed about to cry any second.
“Of course not! Junior Sister is like a celestial maiden descending to inspect the mortal realm. I’m just afraid of offending the celestial maiden’s senses.”
Lin Yue hurriedly took off his outer robe and respectfully handed it over.
An Xiaoxiao took the robe, the grievance on her face vanishing without a trace, replaced once again by an extremely radiant smile.
“That’s more like it. Senior Brother, sit down quickly. Xiaoxiao made you some soup to nourish your body.”
She turned around, humming an unknown, light-hearted tune as she neatly folded the robe and placed it aside.
But in the moment she turned, Lin Yue clearly saw a flicker of something terrifyingly dark pass through those innocent eyes of hers.
Lin Yue stiffly sat down at the table.
In front of him was placed a bowl of bright red soup.
The broth was extremely thick, with a few crystal-clear red dates and some unidentifiable chunks of meat tumbling inside.
“Drink it, Senior Brother, while it’s hot.”
An Xiaoxiao rested her chin in her hands, elbows on the table, her big eyes blinking unwaveringly at Lin Yue.
“It… it smells great,” Lin Yue picked up the spoon, but hesitated to bring it to his mouth.
In his consciousness sea, the ledger was screaming frantically:
“Don’t drink it! That’s brewed with ‘Heart-Linking Gu’ and ‘Red Viper Gallbladder’! Drink this bowl of soup, and every time you look at another woman in the future, your heart will ache like it’s being pricked by needles!”
Lin Yue’s hand trembled, spilling a few drops of hot soup onto the tabletop, instantly corroding several small black holes into the wood.
“What’s wrong, Senior Brother? Is it too hot?”
An Xiaoxiao asked with concern, even considerately leaning closer as if to blow on it for him.
As she leaned in, a faint, sweet fragrance drifted into Lin Yue’s nostrils.
But then, An Xiaoxiao’s nose twitched slightly.
Her leaning motion halted.
The smile on her face also froze at its sweetest curve.
One second.
Two seconds.
The temperature in the room seemed to suddenly drop by ten degrees.
The charcoal in the stove appeared to wither away.