Looking at the dejected Yun Yao before him, Jiu Baiyun couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
‘No, what is this supposed to mean!’
‘After all the trouble to save her, she looks at me and then puts on a disappointed expression? What’s that about?’
Rubbing his forehead, Jiu Baiyun couldn’t just stand there waiting.
He symbolically coughed into his hand.
“Ahem… are you okay?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear in the quiet room.
But after his words fell, Yun Yao acted as if she hadn’t heard, not moving at all.
This made Jiu Baiyun’s brow furrow again.
‘Could there be something else wrong?’
As he thought this, Jiu Baiyun raised his hand to ask again, but Yun Yao finally lifted her head belatedly, looking around in confusion.
Then her blue-green eyes stopped on Jiu Baiyun’s face.
“This is…?”
Seeing Yun Yao’s puzzled expression, clearly not understanding the situation, Jiu Baiyun’s mouth twitched.
‘Good grief, such a long reaction time…’
“My home. You collapsed outside my door, covered in blood, so I brought you in.”
Though brief, as long as she hadn’t lost her memory, she should quickly understand what happened.
But Yun Yao’s reaction was different from what Jiu Baiyun expected.
Instead of recalling or thinking, she directly asked Jiu Baiyun.
“Your home… you live alone…?”
As she spoke, her eyes kept scanning the surroundings, as if looking for something.
Seeing Yun Yao like this, Jiu Baiyun felt a bit speechless.
He knew exactly who she was looking for—the fox demon version of himself.
‘But… I shouldn’t have done anything to offend Yun Yao, right?’
In an instant, Jiu Baiyun quickly reviewed his interactions with Yun Yao in his mind.
‘Accidentally peeked at Yun Yao bathing? Killed Yun Yao’s master by mistake? Or… tch… come to think of it, I’ve offended Yun Yao in quite a few ways!’
With that thought, Jiu Baiyun immediately shuddered, then quickly shook his head at Yun Yao, then nodded.
“Yes, only me.”
‘I absolutely cannot let Yun Yao know that the “Little White Sister” she’s talking about is me!’
‘It’s not that I’m afraid of retaliation because I can’t win. Yun Yao is also a normal cultivator deceived by cultivation scams, not one of those eerie creatures disguised as immortals. But precisely because of that, I can’t let Yun Yao know!’
“I see…”
After getting Jiu Baiyun’s reply, Yun Yao’s tone became noticeably more dejected again.
But having seen a fair bit of the world since leaving the Grand Harmony Sect, she quickly adjusted her state and looked back at Jiu Baiyun.
“Yun Yao thanks Lord Jiu for saving my life.”
Yun Yao’s thanks were very soft, carrying a trace of weakness and solemnity.
On the surface, she seemed fine, but Jiu Baiyun knew her injuries couldn’t have healed that quickly.
The shocking external wounds were one thing, but the invisible internal injuries were the real problem.
That one pill wasn’t enough to restore Yun Yao.
Knowing he couldn’t make Yun Yao leave anytime soon, Jiu Baiyun massaged his temples in frustration.
‘It wasn’t that he was heartless, but just by looking at Yun Yao’s injuries, he knew this trouble was no small matter. He didn’t want to get involved in more trouble, nor did he want any further contact with Yun Yao.’
“You’re welcome, Miss Yun Yao.”
“If I may be so bold… what exactly happened…?”
After thinking for a moment, Jiu Baiyun couldn’t help asking.
‘If it was really something unsolvable, he wouldn’t bother.’
Yun Yao leaned against the simple bed board, and her blue-green eyes dimmed for a moment, as if pierced by the bloody memories.
She took a deep breath, which tugged at the wound on her waist, furrowing her brow slightly, but her voice was still steady.
“You could call it… a pursuit.”
‘A pursuit?’
Jiu Baiyun raised an eyebrow, and Yun Yao quickly continued: “After you left the Grand Harmony Sect, I also left soon after.”
“Although the sect wouldn’t allow the Saintess to leave, due to certain reasons, I still managed to leave the Grand Harmony Sect, but I remained under their surveillance…”
“But… another force appeared. Not only did they block the Grand Harmony Sect’s surveillance, but they’ve been tracking Xiao Chun and me…”
‘Another force?’
‘So that means… the three auras that Yao Fox Demon Venerable sensed back then were indeed not from the Grand Harmony Sect, but they weren’t ones I’d encountered either…’
The Grand Harmony Sect’s scale wasn’t small.
In this entire region, it was considered mid-to-upper tier, a sect with a Five Mysteries Period cultivator sitting at its helm.
And this force tracking Yun Yao could block their surveillance, meaning they weren’t weak.
‘If Yun Yao only used a Teleportation Talisman to escape, it’s only a matter of time before they lock onto her!’
‘No, the other party is probably already on their way here!’
‘Thinking of this, Jiu Baiyun began to consider whether he should take Su Zhiyun and A Ran and flee to another place.’
‘So far, he hadn’t seen any faction that would go easy. Whether it’s silencing witnesses or collateral damage, once they really come after them, this area would definitely be in trouble.’
But just as Jiu Baiyun’s expression was shifting and he was about to get up and pack, Yun Yao on the bed looked at his grave face and suddenly let out a soft “pfft” laugh.
“Don’t worry, Lord Jiu. They mean no harm. They simply wanted to invite me to join them.”
“I got injured purely because I strayed into a forbidden area…”
“For… forbidden area?” The gravity on Jiu Baiyun’s face instantly froze.
He opened his mouth, looking at Yun Yao’s smiling blue-green eyes, and a strong sense of speechlessness surged within him.
‘He was genuinely relieved, at least it wasn’t real trouble.’
‘But he was also genuinely speechless. He remembered Yun Yao didn’t used to speak with such pauses! Who taught her that?’
Jiu Baiyun felt the veins on his forehead throbbing.
He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, as if that could suppress his annoyance.
Finally, he let out a helpless sigh and looked at Yun Yao, speaking in a bad tone.
“Miss Yun Yao, can you not finish your sentences in one go?”
“It’s just that I haven’t seen Lord Jiu in a long time.”
She tilted her head, her tone carrying a bit of playfulness and nostalgia.
“Just kidding. Seeing Lord Jiu so worried about me—well, worried about the situation—it feels a bit novel.”
Jiu Baiyun: …
‘This “joke” wasn’t funny at all! Look how worried I got!’
“But Lord Jiu, last time… when Xiao Chun invited you to meet with me, why did you avoid me…?”
As Yun Yao’s words fell, Jiu Baiyun’s body stiffened abruptly.
‘No… why bring that up now!’
Remembering how he ran away the moment they met outside that dilapidated ancestral hall, Jiu Baiyun stammered for a long time, not knowing what to say.
“Uh… well…”
He instinctively averted his gaze, unable to meet Yun Yao’s eyes, his drifting sight landing on a cobweb in the corner as if its structure had suddenly become profoundly profound.
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